Harry Potter and the Origins of Reality
by zerotactics1
Summary: Harry’s fifth year brought about many mixed emotions. With all of the loss he has gone through, he is spinning out of control. Mix this with Dudley and a whole new perspective is thrown upon Harry’s well known story of that fateful Halloween night in 1981
1. A Break From Normality

A/N: This WILL be a H/G story. My friend and I are writing it together, the first four chapters are done and I just now decided to post it on Ch. 5 is almost done! Enjoy!

Chapter One: A Break From Normality

Harry was sitting on the train at the end of his fifth year. He was returning home after an especially long and eventful year at Hogwarts. Not only had he been inside Voldemort's mind the whole year, but he had also been under the tutelage of one of the worst Defense teachers he had ever encountered. She had given him detention after detention and at each one he would write with a blood quill until the words he wrote were etched into his hand.

On top of all that he had also been through one of the worst situations he had ever gotten himself into. He had rushed to the Ministry thinking that his godfather was in danger, when in reality Sirius was quite safe. Harry had found an orb containing a prophecy and had been cornered by Death Eaters. Sirius, who had rushed to the Ministry to save Harry, was killed in front of him by Bellatrix Lestrange.

In that one moment Harry lost his godfather, his friend and one of the few links he had left to his parents.

"Harry, are you alright?" Ron asked looking over at him.

Harry just continued to stare out the window thinking about what had happened, completely ignoring Ron's question. He couldn't think about anything other than what he had inadvertently caused. If he hadn't been tricked by Voldemort, if he hadn't rushed blindly to the Ministry, if he hadn't been so stupid!

"Harry? Are you okay?" Ginny asked worriedly.

Again Harry ignored the question, lost in his memories of Sirius.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Ginny yelled, breaking Harry from his trance.

"ARGGH!" Harry screamed, falling off his seat. "You don't have to yell!"

"Apparently we do," Hermione said, "Ron and Ginny both asked you a question and you ignored them both."

"Oh, sorry you two, I was a bit lost in my thoughts," Harry said quietly.

"Harry, can you come with me for a minute?" Ginny asked.

"Uhm…okay," he replied, following her out the door of the compartment.

Ginny walked up and down the train looking for an empty compartment. After searching for a moment, she found one. Once inside she locked the door magically and put a silencing charm around the room.

"Harry, talk to me. Please Harry, we're worried about you! You haven't said anything to anyone since that night at the Ministry. What's going on in your head?" Ginny said to him with a tear forming in her eye.

"What's going through my head?" Harry yelled. "I'll tell you. I KILLED MY GODFATHER! ARE YOU HAPPY TO HEAR THAT? I KILLED HIM!"

"Harry, don't say that. You didn't do anything except--"

"Except kill him? That's exactly what I did!"

"Harry, please…"

"No Ginny, just admit it! You and I both know I killed him. Dumbledore knows I killed him! Sirius knows I killed--" Ginny launched herself at Harry and kissed him full on the lips.

"Now that you stopped being a prat and closed your mouth, you can listen to me," Ginny said despite the fact that Harry's mouth was wide open in shock. "You didn't kill him, Bellatrix did. The only thing you are guilty of is being tricked by Voldemort."

"But Ginny!" Harry retorted after getting over his initial shock.

"No buts, it could have been anyone he tricked. He tricked you just like he tricked me in my first year."

At this statement, Harry began crying silently. Ginny sat down next to him and put her arms around him. For the rest of the trip Harry and Ginny were wrapped within the others arms, both crying.

They finally noticed the train slowing and got up to get their trunks from the compartment where they previously were. It did not go unnoticed that they were holding hands as they walked into the compartment, or that they also walked off of the train holding hands.

"Hello Ginny, Hello Harry," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully as she hugged them each.

"Hi Mum!" Ginny said excitedly, while Harry only managed a quiet 'Hello.'

Harry spotted the Dursleys and said his goodbyes to Hermione, Ron and Mrs. Weasley before walking up to Ginny.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Harry said, looking into Ginny's eyes. "Thanks for bringing me back to reality."

"You're welcome Harry. And this is not goodbye, this is I will see you later. I'm going to miss you. I'm going to have a talk with Dumbledore about getting you back with me soon," Ginny replied, staring back at Harry just as fiercely.

Harry hugged her tightly and said, "I'll see you soon Ginny, I promise," before kissing her full on the lips. This brought about many cheers and catcalls from passing schoolmates.

"Oi! Potter! Get off my sister so we can go already!" Ron said jokingly.

"Ronald! Be nice, a lot has happened lately!" Mrs. Weasley said, smacking Ron's head.

"Wait a minute…" Ron said, finally thinking back upon their time on the train, "What exactly happened when you left the compartment?"

"I'll tell you on the way home Ron," Ginny said, hugging Harry one last time before walking away with her family.

Harry walked up to the Dursleys and after they yelled at him for "making out" with that "freak," they were off.

"Oh look who it is, Dudley and his band of idiots," Harry said as he walked through the door of Privet Drive to see Dudley and his gang sitting around talking.

"Oi look! It's Potter!" said Gordon, one of Dudley's more dimwitted friends.

"Really? Where? Oh there he is, behind you!" Harry said before rushing up the stairs with his trunk.

'Well that was fun,' Harry thought to himself.

Harry waited for everyone to go to bed before sneaking downstairs to get some food. After he finished reheating a serving of roasted chicken and potatoes he sat down to eat. A few minutes later he heard someone moving around upstairs so he finished quickly and put his plate and fork in the dishwasher. He started to creep up the stairs but was blocked at the top by Dudley.

"Oh look, it's Potter and he's all alone," Dudley taunted.

"Shove off Dudley," Harry said, trying to push past Dudley.

"I don't think so Potter," Dudley said, stepping closer to Harry.

"What do you want?" Harry asked.

"Well, my mates want to know if your little boyfriend Cedric has called you back yet," Dudley said, and behind him you could hear the laughter of his other friends.

"Don't talk about Cedric!" Harry yelled.

"Or what? Going to call your lunatic godfather on us?"

Harry was silent, anger clearly radiating from him.

"What's wrong Harry? Going to let us kick your ass so you can call your godfather to kill us all?" 

Still, Harry was silent.

"Oh, little Potty can't even say anything," came the voice of Malcolm, one of Dudley's other friends.

"Of course not, he always was a coward," said Piers, Dudley's best friend.

"Shut up," Harry said quietly, pulling his wand from his pocket. "Shut up before I turn you into the fat pig you are."

"Oh, does your godfather know you are going to get expelled from your freak school for using your little stick?"

"My godfather is dead!" Harry said in a loud, angry voice.

"Oh, did he go off and get killed just like your parents did?"

"Shut up Dudley! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Seems like everyone around you gets killed, don't they? First your stupid parents, then your pathetic godfather, whose next? Maybe one of those pathetic redheaded freaks? "

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Harry yelled angrily. Harry threw his wand arm out and Dudley was sent flying against a wall, clearly knocked out. His three friends were momentarily shocked.

"Get him!" Piers yelled, and the three charged at Harry.

'Oh shit,' Harry thought.

Piers got to Harry first and landed a punch which knocked Harry down the stairs. Harry sat up only to be kicked in the ribs by Gordon. 

"Let's see you call your little boyfriend and godfather on us now!" Malcolm yelled before stomping on Harry's ribs.

"While you're at it," Piers said between punches, "tell your mom I said hello."

Harry's eyes darkened with rage before putting both hands up and sent Piers flying across the room, only to hit the wall with amazing force. Gordon and Malcolm were shocked by what had happened and began to flee up the stairs. He felt the power within himself growing and expanding with all of his pent up emotions. Rage, anger, sadness, hate, jealousy and grief, he could feel them all within him, twisting and turning, mixing and reacting. Just as suddenly as he felt them, they burst out in the form of raw magical power. He felt his magical core explode, unable to contain all the power within him.

A tidal wave of magic was sent out, destroying everything that it touched. Number Four, along with their direct neighbors, Number Six and Number Four were completely decimated. The occupants were all killed instantly.

Harry felt the wards around what was left of the Dursleys' home collapse and all of the magicks from their merging with his own. He was caught in a sort of limbo, not in the living world, but not within the realm of the dead either. He felt as if he was falling backwards, not knowing where he would land. He felt his memories leaving him, disappearing into nothingness. Reality as he knew it was morphing and changing before his eyes. He saw people flashing by him, and events happening in reverse. Suddenly, everything Harry knew was gone, and Harry ceased to exist.

"Hagrid," Sirius said, seeing him at the site where the home belonging to his closest friends once stood. "It's good to see you."

"'Ello there Sirius, if the times wern' so bad it'd be a pleasure t' see you too," Hagrid replied, looking into the wreckage.

"I know what you mean," Sirius said gravely. "Why exactly are you here?"

"Dumbledore sent me t' check around."

"Well then, I guess I can go since you're taking care of that."

"WHAT? Your goin' t' just leave?" Hagrid yelled dumbfounded.

"Of course! I need to find him!" Sirius yelled back "He has to pay for what he did!"

Hagrid bent down and picked up a blue bundle of blankets, clearly hiding something. He peeked in and his shock was clearly evident on his face.

"You can't just go runnin' off after You-Know-Who like tha' Sirius!"

"No, not Voldemort! Peter! I have to find Peter!" Sirius exclaimed loudly.

"Wha's Pettigrew got t' do wit' any of this?"

"Everything! He was Lily and James' Secret Keeper."

For the second time that night, Hagrid was in a complete state of shock. "Well you're gonna have t' wait for Dumbledore, he'll know wha' you can do. Besides, how could you just leave these two?" Hagrid asked as he uncovered what was hidden under the blankets.

Hidden within it was a boy with black hair, green eyes, and a lightening bolt cut on his forehead. Next to the boy was a little girl of the same young age. She had the same green eyes, but red hair. The most interesting bit was that she had the exact same lightening bolt shape cut on her forehead.

A/N: If you guys liked this story, then I direct you towards my other story The Epoch of the War. Thanks for the reviews!


	2. Destiny and Decisions

A/N: Here's Chapter 2! Hope you enjoy! Written by both a friend and myself.

Chapter Two: Destiny and Decisions

Dumbledore was sitting in his office. It wasn't a large office, but still spacious enough to sit in with a few guests. He did not get many guests in his office though, other than the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. You see, Dumbledore was a very important man. He was the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and received an Order of Merlin, First Class. On top of all that, Fudge had been coming to him a lot lately about problems with the Wizarding World.

Over the last decade, the Wizarding World had been at war with Voldemort, along with his band of Death Eaters. Fudge couldn't rightly handle the war himself, so he turned to Dumbledore, the only man Voldemort had ever feared. Now that Voldemort was temporarily out of action, Dumbledore was hoping to get a bit of time to think.

Dumbledore had been alerted of the attack on the Potters' home earlier by a few enchantments he had set around their home, and was patiently awaiting any news from Hagrid, whom he had sent to look around. He had hoped not all had been lost at this home. It was the house Voldemort targeted, so that would bring about something that could save the entire Wizarding World later.

He knew there were two children residing within that home, and they could be the key to a brighter future for everyone. If they were dead, he did not know what would happen. Nothing like that was ever foreseen. It was always supposed to be one or the other, there was no in between. No one was supposed to die, just one chosen, and one not. It was the time to see what had happened, and what would lie in store for the future for all of mankind. The fate of these two could change the course of time…

Dumbledore felt his pocket begin to heat up, and he reached into it and pulled out a small mirror.

"Hello Hagrid," Dumbledore said, looking into the mirror.

"Dumbledore! I found 'em! Both the chil'ren are still alive! They were both jus' layin' here wrapped up 'n a blanket, both alive still!"

"A… a…. alive you say," Dumbledore said, not believing what was just told to him. "And there are no signs of James or Lily?"

"Well, Sirius found the bodies sir, and we put 'em off t' the side."

"Most curious."

"Wha's curious 'bout tha' Dumbledore?"

"That both of the adults are dead, yet both children remain alive. And there are no signs of Voldemort?"

"No sir, none a' all."

"Alright Hagrid. I shall be there soon."

"Oh and sir, Sirius is here with me, he needs to speak with you."

"Alright Hagrid, I shall be along quickly," Dumbledore said, hiding the mirror once again in his pocket.

Dumbledore now faced a new dilemma, what to do with the kids.

Sirius and Hagrid had been waiting for nearly half an hour before Dumbledore had arrived with a pop. One of the babies, the girl, began crying when the pop sounded Dumbledore's arrival. Sirius stood from where he was sitting and walked over to take her from Hagrid when she began crying and she instantly became quiet.

"Hello Dumbledore," Sirius said gravely.

"Hello Sirius, hello Hagrid," Dumbledore said, nodding to each in turn.

"'Ello Dumbledore, sir," Hagrid said as he stood up.

"I see the children are awake," Dumbledore said, looking at the kids' open eyes.

Sirius held the girl even tighter in his arms, seemingly afraid to let her go.

"Albus, what are you planning on doing with them?" Sirius questioned the old man.

"Many thoughts have gone through my mind about what to do with them," Dumbledore said, looking from the girl to the boy. "Many places pondered. But I believe the safest place for them would be at the home in which Lily's sister resides."

"WHAT? WITH THOSE FILTHY MUGGLES?" Sirius yelled, making the girl cry again. He looked down into her beautiful green eyes, and while bouncing her in his arms lightly said, "I'm sorry kiddo, I didn't mean to make you cry."

"I'm sorry Sirius, it is the only way." Dumbledore replied.

"But there has to be! I've met them once before, they are the most unpleasant folk I have ever met!" Sirius replied, quieter than before.

"Regardless, they would be safest there," Dumbledore replied.

"But they won't accept them into their home! Even if we make them take the kids into their home, they will never be accepted as family, or even as humans!"

"Sirius, you are not seeing the bigger picture!" Dumbledore said louder, but not quite meeting Sirius' eyes. "It is more important now more than ever to keep these two safe. We all know what is at risk if we don't! Placing them with Lily's sister is the best thing for them! It will protect them from far more than they should ever encounter in their lives!"

"So 'the bigger picture' is more important than how they are treated throughout some of the most crucial points of their development?" Sirius said angrily.

"This is no longer up for discussion Sirius!" Dumbledore said fiercely. "I have thought long and hard, and the decision I have made is final. The positive outweighs the negative in this case Sirius."

"Dumbledore, do you honestly believe this? I mean seriously, what goes through your mind? You aren't even viewing them as children right now! You only see weapons securing the future for everyone! Think about their future, how do you think they feel?"

"This is not the time or place for this discussion Sirius! All of this foolishness could be…"

"FOOLISHNESS," Sirius cut him off, "This is their lives we are talking about! You don't give a damn about either one of them!"

"Sirius! STOP! This is not the time for this. We can discuss it later, for now, we will take them to the home of the Mr. and Mrs. Dursley."

Dumbledore, Sirius and Hagrid had dropped the children off at Number Four Privet Drive, and then parted ways. Hagrid went to get a few drinks at The Hog's Head, while Dumbledore and Sirius flooed back to Dumbledore's office.

"Well Sirius, is there something else you would like to tell me. You seemed quite anxious to accompany me back to my office," Dumbledore said, brushing the soot from his robes.

"Actually, yes there is. There is an urgent matter we need to discuss, and it can wait no longer," Sirius said as he took a seat.

"Well let's have it then. Lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked casually, holding a glass bowl out to Sirius.

"Thank you," Sirius said, taking a lemon drop. "You see sir, you may be wondering how exactly Voldemort found Lily and James, as I was their supposed Secret Keeper."

"I must admit Sirius, I have had a few thoughts. You however, have given me no doubt as to where your loyalties lie. I can see it in your eyes how devoted you were to Lily and James."

"Exactly sir, I was so devoted that I knew how obvious it would be to Voldemort for them to choose me as their Secret Keeper. That is why we chose someone else."

Dumbledore remained silent, taking the information in.

"You see sir, we thought that Voldemort would go straight for me if I was to become their Secret Keeper. He wouldn't know who they would choose, so naturally he would go for James' best friend, me. That is why I talked James into choosing someone else. I had hoped that Voldemort would come after me, and not find the real Secret Keeper."

"And who did you choose?"

"Peter Pettigrew. Apparently Voldemort hadn't had to bother with me, Pettigrew went straight to the slime ball."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Peter was not home tonight when I went to check on him, that is how I knew something had happened. If Hagrid had not stopped me tonight, I probably would have killed the bastard and ended up in Azkaban."

"Yes, very fortunate for us all that the true story has gotten out."

"Very. I would like you to keep a record of our conversation Albus, for my own security."

"Because you plan on bringing Pettigrew to justice yourself?"

"Yes. I wish to hunt him down and take him straight to the Ministry, but I will need someone to back my story up."

"I am behind you Sirius."

"Please make sure the kids stay safe, and happy."

"I will Sirius."

"Thank you," Sirius said, before standing up and Flooing away. Dumbledore sat pondering the night's events before taking out his wand and placing it to his temple. He walked over to a cabinet which he opened, revealing a large stone basin. He withdrew his wand from his temple and with it, brought out a silvery strand which he dropped into the stone basin.

A/N: If you guys liked this story, then I direct you towards my other story The Epoch of the War. Thanks for the reviews!


	3. An Unexplained Language

A/N: Here's Chapter 3. CH. 4 will be up tomorrow. Once again this was written by both a friend and myself, so I can't take all of the credit.

Chapter 3: An Unexplained Language

Number 4 Privet Drive was normal in all concerns, except for two of the occupants, at least according to Vernon and Petunia Dursley. The occupants of the house consisted of Vernon, Petunia and Dudley Dursley, along with Harry and Rose Potter.

Vernon was a beefy man with short brown hair, which he always kept flat and neat. He felt anyone whose hair was not at least combed looked unkempt. He was not a very tall man, but there was an air about him that made him seem that much more menacing if one was to get on his bad side. Vernon worked for Grunnings Drill Firm, where he was a corporate executive.

Petunia, however, was a tall, skinny woman with natural blonde hair. She was horse faced with a long neck that seemed to be very useful in spying on her neighbors. She did not have a job, instead she stayed home and kept the house clean, spied on the neighbors and watched Dudley while Vernon was at work. It was often questioned what Vernon and Petunia saw in each other, but it was never brought up.

Vernon and Petunia's son Dudley Dursley was a phenomenon in his own right. One would wonder how he walked, let alone ran. By the time he was five years old he looked like he could pass for a baby whale; well, a baby whale with blond hair. That did not stop Petunia and Vernon from spoiling him rotten. Every birthday he would have a table full of presents piled high, and every birthday after that it would just keep getting bigger.

However, the last two occupants of the house were not treated as family. Instead they were treated almost like slaves. Harry and Rose Potter were Petunia's sister's children. Lily and James Potter had died when they were only one year old. Harry and Rose had been forced to live with the Dursleys since then because they had no other living blood relatives. Petunia had told them that their parents had died in a car crash because they had both been drunk. Both Harry and Rose knew that she was lying, but they did not know how their parents had actually died.

Harry was a small and skinny boy for his age. He had jet black hair that was always messy and unkempt. It was only one of the many things Vernon complained about regularly. Rose was also small for her age, but instead of black hair she had beautiful red hair. It wasn't as dark as auburn, but it wasn't fiery looking either and it was extremely long. It came all the way down to her lower back. Whenever Petunia tried to cut her or Harry's hair it somehow grew itself back to the length they each liked for themselves overnight

For being twins Rose and Harry looked strikingly similar except for the hair on their heads. Besides both of them being rather small for their age, they both had piercing, emerald green eyes that looked as if they were able to see into ones soul. The second similarity was a rather odd one. Petunia attributed it to the "car crash", but as soon as she told them this they knew it was a lie. Anyways, the other similarity was the lightning bolt shaped scar on their foreheads above their right eye. It was completely identical in every way. It was in the exact same spot, it was the exact same length and it looked exactly the same; it also had the exact same redish tinge to it. Luckily they could both cover it with their hair; Rose, however, had a bit harder time keeping it covered because her hair would get in her eye.

One could attribute their size to the lack of food they received from their relatives. In Vernon's mind Harry and Rose were as "unnatural" as one could be, and "unnatural" was a bad thing in Vernon's opinion. Due to their "unnaturalness," they started doing chores by the time they were four years old. They did all the dishes, they watered Petunia's garden and they were forced to clean much of the house.

The Dursleys home on Number 4 Privet Drive was a rather large house. It was a two story house and it had four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a rather large cupboard under the stairs. This cupboard had been home to Harry and Rose for the first three years of their life at the Dursleys. The night of October 31, 1981 when Harry and Rose had mysteriously appeared on the Dursley's doormat in a basket wrapped in a baby blue blanket, sleeping soundly right next to each other, was a fateful night which forever changed their lives.

When they were four years old Vernon had to give in and allow them to have the smallest bedroom upstairs because they just could not fit in the cupboard anymore. They were glad to finally have a bed and not just a mattress on the floor with a few blankets. Even though the bed was old it was still much nicer than what they had before. The room also had a small desk and dresser they were allowed to use. However, other than that the room was quite bare except for a window overlooking the front yard. Harry and Rose had grown accustomed to sharing almost everything together. They were not only brother and sister, but they were best friends. They were very protective of each other, being their only true family. They didn't count the Dursleys as real family. Anytime Dudley's friends came over they were not allowed to play with them or to bother them. They never understood why, but they knew that they did not want to get on the bad side of Uncle Vernon. They also learned from an early age not to show their emotions in front of their relatives, especially their anger. When they get angry strange things start to happen. The most common was that objects hovered off the ground a few inches. One time a window had shattered when they were extremely angry. Uncle Vernon of course had blamed them for it and they had no idea why.

They only spoke in front of their relatives when spoken to, but that doesn't mean they never exchanged any form of communication. Harry and Rose could speak to each other through their minds. They didn't know how it worked, but they knew it was very useful for them. It kept them out of trouble for talking near their relatives and they could decide how best to deal with a situation should one arise. Besides being able to talk to each other, they knew what the other would say or do before they did it, so they could so some simple things in tandem pretty well. The one thing they learned from an early age was how to lie their way out of almost any situation to a degree. Uncle Vernon always punished them for whatever odd thing happened, but they always managed to find some way to lessen the punishment. Harry and Rose also had one other special talent that they knew about. No matter where they were they always knew where the other was. They knew exactly where, but nothing more than that. The only other thing they could "do" was sense the others emotions. They knew how the other was feeling when they focused on them. They attributed all of this to being twins and they thought it could have something to do with the scar on their foreheads, but they were not completely sure about that because they still did not know how they had gotten the scar.

Even though they believed they got their "talents" because of being twins and possibly through the fact that they shared a scar, they still knew there was another difference between them and everyone else. It didn't help that Uncle Vernon called them 'unnatural' and 'freaks'. They knew they were different because a few things happened to them that they had never seen happen to anyone else. For one their hair would grow over night if they got a hair cut. Another reason was when they got angry strange things happened. They knew for a fact that strange things did not happen when other people were angry because Uncle Vernon always found some reason to be angry with them. Also, they didn't know how any two people could have identical scars. Besides that however, a few strange occurrences had happened before. Once when they were four Dudley had been picking on Rose and Harry had yelled at him and told him to shut up. When Dudley tried to reply nothing came out. His mouth kept moving, but no sound came out. He had run to Uncle Vernon when he realized he could not speak. Harry and Rose had ended up without food for a week. Another time they were in the same room with Dudley when suddenly his hair became pink. Again they were blamed for this, but the punishment was not as severe because Vernon and Petunia had been in the room at the same time and did not see anything odd happen, besides his hair becoming pink.

Harry and Rose were excitedly counting down the days before they could finally start Primary School. Although Dudley was also starting, he did not seem as excited. They had been looking forward to starting school for the past year. Not only would they be able to get away from the Dursleys for most of the day, but they would finally be able to make some friends and hopefully find someone that would appreciate their intelligence. Vernon and Petunia would always tell Harry and Rose that they were stupid, insignificant, and worthless. However, contrary to popular belief among the Dursleys, Harry and Rose were quite intelligent. They picked up on topics quickly and easily. They had tried to teach themselves to read, but it did not end up working out too well because they had no idea where to start.

"BOY! GET UP AND GET YOUR SISTER UP AS WELL!" Uncle Vernon yelled from downstairs.

"Urgh," Harry muttered as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. He was never happy to wake up this early, but he and his sister had become accustomed to waking up early to "earn their keep" as their Uncle like to put it.

"Whaaa happen Hawwy?" Rose muttered, still half asleep.

"BOY! I SAID GET UP!" Uncle Vernon yelled, if possible, sounding even louder than the first time.

"I'm coming Uncle!" Harry half-heartedly yelled.

"Rose, it's time to wake up," Harry said softly to his sister. He hated to wake up his sister this early, but it had to be done or his Uncle would punish them for some unforeseen thing he would claim they did.

"Already?" Rose murmured.

"Yea, sorry sis, Uncle Vernon is yelling at us to get up," Harry said while sighing deeply.

"Whaaa time is it?" Rose said in the middle of a yawn.

"Dunno, we'll have to go downstairs to check," Harry replied.

"GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!" Uncle Vernon screamed from the bottom of the stairs.

"I suppose we should get down their then before Uncle Vernon explodes," Rose said.

"COMING UNCLE VERNON!" Harry and Rose yelled at the same time.

Harry and Rose quickly got dressed and hurried downstairs to find their Aunt and Uncle at the kitchen table. Both of them were drinking coffee and Uncle Vernon had the newspaper out, most likely turned to the business section. They glanced at the clock and saw that it was only 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday in the middle of August. They realized they only had one more week until school started. Now that Harry and Rose were five they were excitedly counting down the days before they could finally start Primary School.

"It's about time you two got down here," Uncle Vernon said rather angrily.

"Sorry Uncle," Harry replied quickly.

"Eat your breakfast and then do the dishes," Aunt Petunia told them while pointing to the two plates on the table with toast on them.

Harry and Rose ate their meager breakfast of two pieces of toast each. After they had finished they quickly did everyone's dishes. As soon as they had finished Dudley came waltzing into the room. How he could waltz in with all that fat, they could not figure out.

"Good morning, Diddydumkins sit down while I get you your breakfast," Aunt Petunia said in a sweet tone to Dudley.

"Morning son," Uncle Vernon said in a fatherly tone.

"Morning Mum, Dad," Dudley replied as he sat down in the chair. He took up the whole side of the table he sat on. It was a wonder he did not break the chair.

"Mummy I want more food than that!" Dudley said in an obnoxious tone when Petunia gave him his plate piled with food.

_'Oh no poor Diddydumkins might starve,'_ Rose said in a tone mocking Dudley's.

_'That might not be such a bad thing…,'_ Harry said stifling a real laugh.

"There is more on the stove Diddy," Aunt Petunia replied.

"Harry and Rose, you will be cleaning the windows and dusting off the pictures before we go to the store today to get you your uniforms for school and when we get back you will water the gardens," Uncle Vernon said to them.

"Yes Uncle Vernon," they replied in unison.

"Will you stop doing that!" Uncle Vernon said loudly.

"Sorry," Harry muttered.

"Go do your chores," Uncle Vernon said effectively ending the conversation.

Harry and Rose went to the cupboard where they used to sleep and got out the supplies they needed.

_'I can't believe we used to live in there,'_ Rose said.

_'I know, I'm just glad we don't anymore,'_ Harry replied.

_'It isn't like its any better having to share a room with you,'_ Rose said playfully.

_'Oh hush sis, you know you love me,'_ Harry retorted.

_'You know I do,'_ Rose replied.

They quickly cleaned the windows and dusted off the pictures. They went back to their room while they waited for Uncle Vernon to tell them they were going to go get their new uniforms.

"Let's go!" Uncle Vernon yelled from downstairs sometime later.

Harry and Rose ran down the stairs two at a time. They were excited to finally be getting their uniforms for school.

Once everyone was in the car Uncle Vernon drove to the second hand store for Harry and Rose. They knew they would not be getting brand new uniforms, but they were excited nonetheless. They quickly got two uniforms each. Harry got two white shirts and two pairs of black pants while Rose got two white blouses and two black skirts. Once everything was paid for they went to a new clothing store for Dudley. He got five pair of expensive uniforms, but they were the same color as Harry and Rose's. He also got a new pair of trainers for school.

Outside of the store while heading towards the parking lot a strange looking man with purple robes approached Harry and Rose. He stared at their foreheads before bowing deeply and bustling off in the other direction.

"Crazy people these days," Uncle Vernon muttered under his breath.

_'What was that Rose?'_ Harry said slightly confused.

_'I have no idea Harry; did he just bow to us?'_ Rose asked.

_'I suppose so...'_ Harry replied, feeling quite lost.

By the time they got back to the house it was already one o'clock. They ate a quick lunch of one sandwich each before going out front to water the garden. The garden in the front yard only took a short time because it was much smaller than the one in the backyard. As they headed into the backyard they saw Dudley playing with a toy lawnmower. When he moved it the balls inside the dome would pop up, making an odd popping noise as it moved. While they were watering the garden in the backyard they heard Dudley yelp and turned to see him backing away from a bush. They quickly ran over to him and saw that there was a gardner snake there.

"S-s-snake," Dudley yelped as he backed away even farther.

The snake turned to look at Harry and Rose. It gave them an odd, calculating look before it hissed. When it hissed they almost jumped when they could understand it.

_"Hello, why didss that one runsss away?"_ the snake hissed.

_"You can speak?"_ Rose asked incredulously. She had never heard of a snake that could talk, so she did not know whether to be alarmed or excited.

_"Of coursss I can speak,"_ the snake answered.

_"I think he was scared of you,"_ Harry told the snake.

_"Why isss he scared ofss me?"_ the snake asked.

_"Oh, I dunno because you're a snake?"_ Rose said.

Dudley stares at them while they talk to the snake. While trying to decide what to do he blurts out, "Are you talking to that snake?"

"Yes," Rose replies quickly without thinking about who had asked her the question. As soon as she realized Dudley had asked she went wide eyed in horror. She knew Dudley would go running to his mum and dad to tell on them.

"MUMMY, DADDY! HARRY AND ROSE ARE TALKING TO A SNAKE!" Dudley screamed while running into the house. A moment later Uncle Vernon came out looking enraged.

"WHAT THE DEVIL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING SCARING DUDLEY LIKE THAT?!" Uncle Vernon shouted. It was a wonder the whole neighborhood did not hear him.

"Uhm, nothing," Harry replied a little too quickly.

"NOTHING MY ARSE!" Uncle Vernon shouts. "Now what the devil is this about talking to a snake?" Uncle Vernon says. His face had gone purple from anger and the shouting.

"I don't know, sir," Rose replied.

_'Let me take care of this Harry, don't say anything,'_ Rose said.

_'You sure?'_ Harry asked.

_'Yes,'_ Rose replied.

"Well, don't let it happen again AND DO NOT SCARE DUDLEY," Vernon almost shouted the second half of his sentence at them.

"Sorry, Uncle Vernon," Rose replied.

"You'll get no dinner tonight, now finish watering and go upstairs, and do not let me see you again tonight," Uncle Vernon said through clenched teeth.

"WHAT?!" Harry blurted out.

_'SHH Harry do you want to get us in more trouble?'_ Rose asked.

_'No, sorry Rose,'_ Harry replied quickly.

"Sorry, Uncle Vernon," Harry said a moment later.

"You better be boy..." Uncle Vernon said gruffly.

"Now finish your chores or you'll get no food for three days!" Uncle Vernon said as he headed back inside the house.

_'Well that could have gone worse...'_ Rose said.

_'Do you know how we talked to that snake Rose?'_ Harry asked.

_'I have no idea...let's finish up watering and go upstairs. We can go to sleep early and hopefully not be tired tomorrow,'_ Rose said tiredly.

They quickly finished watering where they had left off and then headed upstairs to go to sleep before Uncle Vernon could yell at them anymore. It was only five o'clock, but they were starting to get tired from the days events and waking up so early. They fell asleep next to each other with Harry's arm protectively around Rose, each thinking about what had happened with the snake and Uncle Vernon.

A/N: Once again, if you guys liked this story, then I direct you towards my other story The Epoch of the War. Thanks for the reviews!


	4. School Days

A/N: Any text written like: _'this'_ is Harry and Rose talking within their heads. Any text written like: _"this"_ is Parselmouth. Anything like: 'this' is someone's personal thoughts.  
This applies to all chapters.

So this chapter is just a few school scenes from Primary school. It was originally going to be two chapters but we put them into one longer one. We may have had to shoot a few plot bunnies down… but it's okay.

Enjoy!

Chapter Four: School Days

The first day of school in Harry and Rose's Grade Three class at Little Whinging Primary seemed to be going slower than usual. They had just finished their math lesson and were waiting for the lunch bell to sound.

_Bbbrrriinnggg_. The school bell went off, signaling the start of lunch.

"Go ahead and head out to lunch," Mr. Jarx said happily. It was only Harry and Rose's first day with him, but they already liked him a lot more than the other teachers that they had before. He was a pleasant man, and he seemed to like them also. He actually called on them in class. The best part about his class was that Dudley was not in it! For the school day, aside from breaks and lunch, they were Dudley free! The past few years they were always in his class, they weren't sure about later years, but at least this one they would be away from him. 

Harry reached into his bookbag, which had once been Dudley's, and pulled out a small paper bag which had both his and Rose's names written across it. After catching Rose's eye they walked to the lunch room so they could find a table in one of the corners of the room.

They reached the cafeteria, which was already packed with students, and found a few empty seats in a back corner of the room. No one else wanted to be around them, so they were left alone in the corner.

_'What's for lunch today Harry?'_ Rose asked as she sat down beside Harry.

_'Let me check,'_ Harry said, digging into the brown paper bag. _'Looks like she gave us a turkey sandwich to split, dry at that.'_

_'Oh well,'_ Rose said, _'I'll go see if I can find a packet of mustard or someth–'_

"Hello," came a voice in front of them while they were having their mental conversation. They did not notice a girl about their age walk up to their table. "I'm erm… new to the school and was wondering if I could sit with you two."

Rose looked over to Harry, unsure of what to say to the girl. "Uhm, I'm not sure if that's so good of an idea." Harry said, looking up at the girl.

She looked to be the same age as Harry and Rose. She was about an inch or two taller than the average girl of their age; she had pretty, straight brown hair which went down to her shoulder blades. She had kind blue eyes, which at the moment showed her nervousness and vulnerability. Her uniform skirt was longer than most other girls, and her sleeves were longer also. She wore no earrings, but a golden necklace with a heart shaped pendent on it.

"Why not?" she asked Harry, clearly let down that her first attempt at friendship was not working out so well.

"You see…." Harry trailed off, unsure of what he could really tell her.

"Well," Rose took over, "most of the school doesn't like us. Mostly because of our cousin, he says we're freaks so no one wants to be around us."

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with you. I'm new this year, but I'm in your class. My name is Victoria, and you two are Harry and Rose right?" she said.

"Erm… yeah," Harry said lamely.

"Well hi," she said as she sat down across from them.

Harry and Rose decided not to let their chance at friendship pass them by and decided to just see what would happen. The three talked, laughed and ate their lunch together until Rose got up to throw their paper bag away.

"That's all you guys had to eat? Just one sandwich between the two of you?" Victoria said, clearly shocked.

"Erm, yeah. We don't really get a lot of food for lunch," Harry was embarrassed at having to share this tidbit of information.

"Don't your parents want you to eat right?" Victoria questioned.

"We don't live with our parent, they died," Rose said looking down at the table. Harry put his arm around her and hugged her close.

"We live with our aunt and uncle," he finished, kissing the top of Rose's head.

"Well, you could have this," Victoria said, holding out a plastic baggie with four or five chocolate chip cookies in it.

"Oh, we can't take that from you, we aren't allowed cookies," Rose said, but her eyes were betraying her words. It was evident that she wanted the cookies, but that she was restraining herself from taking them.

"Please," Victoria said as she tossed the cookies to Harry, "I can get more at home, you two have these."

"Thank you," Harry said. At that moment Dudley had spotted them from across the room and saw the cookies in Harry's hand. By the time he had gotten there Harry and Rose had each eaten one cookie apiece.

"Where'd you two get the cookies from?" Dudley asked angrily before looking over to Victoria. "Let me guess, you scared this girl into giving them to you!"

"No they didn't, I gave the cookies to them!" Victoria said quite shyly.

"Well, I'm taking them away," Dudley said before shoving Rose's hand away and taking the bag of cookies. He then pushed Victoria from her seat and took the rest of her lunch. "It's not smart to make friends with Potters; it only gets you into bad situations."

"Leave her alone!" Harry yelled, walking to Victoria and helping her up. "She didn't do anything wrong!"

Dudley went forward to hit Harry, but Harry put his arms in front of him and Dudley was pushed back by some invisible force. He took about three steps back before he fell to the ground. 

Harry was just as shocked as Dudley when the blow did not connect, but when he saw Mr. Jarx running towards them he knew he would be in trouble. It doesn't matter that he didn't do anything; he was always blamed, along with Rose.

"Mr. Jarx! He didn't do anything! Harry didn't do anything!" Rose cried when Mr. Jarx arrived at the scene.

"I know, Rose, I saw the whole thing. You there," Mr. Jarx said pointing at Dudley, "detention after school. Harry, go ahead and enjoy the rest of lunch."

"You mean I'm not going to get in trouble for knocking him down?" Harry said, quite amazed at his luck.

"Nope. You had no control over what you just did."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, quite confused.

"Oh erm, you'll see in a few years," Mr. Jarx said before walking off behind Dudley.

Harry looked at Rose and shrugged. They sat back at their table and said goodbye to Victoria as she ran off.

Grade Three for Harry and Rose was an experience they would never forget. They were a bit disappointed when it ended because they knew they wouldn't have Mr. Jarx again.

The next year was filled with bullying, and a teacher who didn't care for Harry and Rose like Mr. Jarx did. The teacher wasn't mean to them, but he wasn't as friendly or kind to them. He didn't call on them in class as often, but he didn't completely ignore them.

Their semi-friendship with Victoria remained a constant, despite Dudley's threats against their friendship.

The two years were also a time of a lot of self discovery for the two children.

Harry and Rose were busy doing the grammar work that Ms. Bach had assigned them. It was tedious work, since they already knew it backwards and forwards, but it still had to be done. Either way they looked at it, they were glad to be in Ms. Bach's Grade Five class instead of back at the Dursleys. They had turned nine two months ago, and school had been back in session for a little over a month. They had never considered the Dursleys' house their _home_.

_Bbbrrriinnggg_. The bell signaled the start of break.

"I'll see you guys in 25 minutes," Ms. Bach told the class.

Harry and Rose quickly put their pencils down and hurried outside with the rest of the class. They quickly made their way in line for a football. Every break they would play football. It had quickly become one of their favorite activities at school. It was one of the few times that people wanted to be around them because they were so good at it. Dudley normally scared everyone away from talking to them, but when they played football everyone wanted to be on their team. They never lost when they played football. No one could beat the offense the two played, even when they were easily outnumbered by the opposing team's players. They always played as Strikers because they knew exactly what the other was going to do. They could pass without looking at the other, in any direction they needed. They knew exactly how to play with the other in order to get the outcome they wanted. In addition they also had some idea of what the opposing players were going to do before they did it. On top of all that, they were quick footed, so they could maneuver the ball quite easily.

While Rose was standing in line to get a football to start a pick-up game, Harry went to the loo. Dudley approached Rose from behind, but she did not notice him.

"Well if it isn't little Rosey, all by herself without Harry," sneered Dudley.

"What do you want, Dudley?" Rose said in an exasperated tone. Rose noticed that Dudley's gang was surrounding her.

_'Harry, you better hurry out here, this could get ugly,'_ Rose said.

_'I'll be right there. What's going on though?'_ Harry asked.

_'Dudley and his gang of idiots are here,'_ Rose replied quickly.

Due to the fact that their conversation had taken only a few seconds, Dudley was just starting to respond to what Rose had said.

"Just thought I'd drop by and see why you're all by yourself, with no annoying brother to defend you," Dudley said, placing emphasis on the second half of what he said.

"Right, like I need my brother to defend myself from a bunch of idiots?" Rose asked incredulously.

At this Dudley lunged forward, intent on hitting Rose. When he struck out, his hand hit an invisible barrier and he toppled over backwards from his momentum hitting the invisible barrier. Dudley looked at her incredulously because all Rose had done was wave her hand casually in front of herself.

"Piers and Malcolm, get that _freak,_ now!" Dudley shouted.

Piers and Malcolm lunged at her while Dudley got up and prepared to hit her again. He figured that since it was three on one she wouldn't be able to protect herself this time with whatever "hocus pocus" she had done the first time.

_'HARRY, HELP!'_ Rose screamed just as Piers punch was stopped by another invisible barrier, but at the same time Malcolm knocked her over. He kicked her once before he was suddenly sent flying back into a wall.

"Do not touch my sister again," Harry said in a deadly tone. If looks could kill, Dudley and his gang would be a pile of ash.

Piers made to move away from Rose, but Harry mistook it as a lunge, and with a quick wave of his hand, he was pushed back 10 feet and toppled over himself. At this, Dudley moved to hit Harry. Harry anticipated his attack and side stepped while sticking out his foot to trip Dudley. Between the momentum from Dudley's punch, and tripping over Harry's foot, Dudley ended up sprawled on the ground.

"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" yelled Ms. Bach with a girl standing behind her. It looked as if she had told their teacher that they had been fighting.

"Why is Dudley on the ground?" she asked.

"Harry pushed me, Ms. Bach," Dudley replied in an innocent voice.

"Did not!" Harry retorted.

"QUIET!" Ms. Bach said quite loudly. "Gordon, tell me what happened here?"

"Well, Dudley, Piers, Malcolm and I were waiting in line for a basketball when Rose came over here and started calling Dudley names. Rose pushed Dudley down, and then she pushed Piers. Then Harry came out and hit Malcolm over there, and when Dudley tried to walk past Harry, he tripped him. Then you came out here," Gordon said as innocently as possibly.

"Bu-," Harry was about to say when he was interrupted.

"But nothing Harry, you and your sister know better than to fight," Ms. Bach said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"But we didn't start anything!" Harry cried.

"Gordon says you did," Ms. Bach replied.

"He's lying! They started picking on Rose, and I had to stop them from hitting her!" Harry yelled. His anger was starting to rise.

"Dudley, Malcolm, Piers, is this true?" Ms. Bach asked eyeing them suspiciously. Dudley and his gang were known to start fights with other kids, especially Harry and Rose. While Harry and Rose were never completely innocent, they never started fights. They would only defend one another from the other kids if they had to.

"No Ms. Bach, they started it," they replied in unison in as innocent a tone as they could muster.

"I'll be calling all of your parents to inform them you have been fighting. I do not care who started it Dudley. You were all fighting, except Gordon, so you will all be punished," Ms. Bach said sternly.

_'Ugh, I hate Dudley, this is so unfair. Uncle Vernon is going to blame us for it, and then he is going to punish us even worse,'_ Harry said in a defeated tone.

_'Harry, I know it's not fair, but we'll get through it. I wish our parents were still here so we wouldn't have to put up with this fat git,'_ Rose replied sadly.

It was finally Dudley, Harry, and Rose's turn for Ms. Bach to call home. She had already called Malcolm and Piers' parents; they did not know what happened with them. They knew that their phone call would easily be the worst.

"Hello, may I speak to Mr. Dursley please?" Ms. Bach said to the person on the other line of the phone. She had called Grunnings Drill Firm to talk to Uncle Vernon instead of Aunt Petunia.

…

"Yes, Mr. Dursley, this is Ms. Bach from Whinging Primary. Earlier at break today I caught Dudley, Harry and Rose fighting. It looks like Dudley, Malcolm and Piers started the confrontation, but they all denied it. Harry and Rose said that Dudley started it," Ms. Bach told Uncle Vernon.

…

"How can you be so sure that Harry and Rose started it, Mr. Dursley? You did not witness the incident," Ms. Bach replied in a startled voice. It sounded as if he had shouted at Ms. Bach from his end.

…

"Well, there is no need to shout, Mr. Dursley. We can take care of all of this in an adult manner. Would you mind stopping by after school so we can straighten this entire thing out?" Ms. Bach asked in a dignified tone.

…

"Yes, well I'd rather not deal with it either, but we need to. So, I will see you after school. Thank you," Ms. Bach said. She then hung up the phone and turned back to Dudley, Harry and Rose.

"Well, your father seems like a charming man, Dudley," Ms. Bach said in a sarcastic tone. At this Harry and Rose snorted in laughter.

"You three will remain here after class, so we can straighten this out with your father, or uncle in your case Harry and Rose," Ms. Bach said slightly sympathetically.

"Yes Ms. Bach," Harry and Rose said in unison, while Dudley grumbled under his breath.

"Class is about to start, please take your seats," Ms. Bach said in a firm tone.

When the bell for lunch rang, Harry and Rose were quick to get out of the classroom. Dudley, Malcolm and Piers had been not only throwing them glares, but they had also been throwing balls of crumpled paper at them when Ms. Bach was not watching.

Harry and Rose may not have had much to eat for lunch because the Dursleys were so unfair, but they were still glad to get away from Dudley for a least a little while. They were sitting alone at a table talking quietly with one another, when Victoria, one of the few kids friendly with Harry and Rose, approached their table with her lunch. She tried to share lunch with them whenever possible, but she also wanted to avoid Dudley's wrath.

"Hi Harry, Rose, how are you guys?" Victoria asked. She had heard about the conflict with Dudley and felt bad for Harry and Rose.

"Not bad, considering we have to stay after school to listen to our uncle yell at us…" Rose grumbled.

"I brought some extra food, would you like some?" Victoria asked as she began taking out two sandwiches, two apples, and some cookies.

"If you don't mind, we'd love some," Harry replied, looking hungrily at Victoria's food.

She handed them a sandwich and two apples to split. She never ate much, but she let her mother think she did. She felt bad for what Harry and Rose had to put up with; nonetheless, she feared Dudley, so after she gave them the food she said goodbye and good luck with their relatives.

They were halfway through eating what she had given them, and the little food they had brought from home, when Dudley came wandering over.

"Where'd you get that food?" Dudley demanded.

"None of your business Dudley," Harry replied in a calm voice. He was determined not to lose his temper; he did not need more trouble for Rose and himself.

"Did you steal it?" Dudley sneered.

"Of course we didn't," Rose retorted. She could feel herself getting annoyed with the stupid git.

"Tell me where you got it or I'll tell dad you've been stealing food," Dudley replied with a smirk. He knew full well that they would not want to incur anymore wrath from their Uncle.

"I don't care what you tell him, but we did not steal the food," Harry replied with as much force as he could muster, the thought of his uncle being even angrier scared him.

"Now go away before we call Ms. Bach over and tell her you're making more trouble for us," Harry said in a more forceful tone. He really did not want any more trouble.

"Better watch your back, Potter. I'll be after you two when there's no one to protect you," Dudley sneered menacingly.

"What are you going to do, trip and fall over yourselves again? It took three of you just to get to Rose, if I had been there you'd all be on the ground," Harry retorted. At this Dudley stalked off with a slightly pink face.

After school Dudley, Harry and Rose waited with Ms. Bach in the classroom for Uncle Vernon to arrive. Vernon had to leave work much earlier than normal in order to arrive on time. Normally Petunia would pick them up from school, the only reason Harry and Rose normally did not walk home was because Petunia was already there to pick Dudley up.

Once Vernon finally arrived, Ms. Bach got straight to the point. "Well now that you're here, Mr. Dursley, let's get this settled."

"Call me Vernon. Tell me Dudley, who started the fight?" Uncle Vernon asked authoritatively.

"Rose started it Dad, and then Harry came and made it worse," Dudley said while trying to sound as innocent as a baby whale could.

"There you have it, Ms. Bach," Vernon said as if he thought the matter was settled completely.

"I don't see how you can just take Dudley's word for it, Vernon," Ms. Bach replied, looking at him incredulously

"Of course I can, Dudley would never start a fight. Now would you,, Dudley?" Vernon asked.

"I would never start a fight, Dad," Dudley replied trying to look innocent again.

"Well, that's settled, come on Dudley, let's go out to the car. You two can walk!" Uncle Vernon said while glaring at Harry and Rose. At that, Vernon got up and walked out of the room with Dudley. Ms. Bach just sat there flabbergasted that Vernon would just walk out and leave his niece and nephew behind.

_'Well, I suppose that could have been worse, but it was still pretty bad,'_ Rose said while mentally sighing.

"Is that normal for you two?" Ms. Bach asked.

_'Should we tell her, Rose?'_ Harry asked.

'I dunno, Harry; it could lead to more trouble.'

"No, not usually, Ms. Bach. Don't worry about us; he will have cooled down by the time we get home. He just doesn't like anyone to be fighting," Harry lied.

"Alright, well would you like a ride home? I'd feel bad if you had to walk all that way," she said, looking sympathetically at Harry and Rose.

"No, we'd don't mind walking actually, it let's us think about what happened and we can let out some steam," Rose said.

_'Well, at least that's part of the truth,'_ Harry said.

"Are you sure? It wouldn't be a problem at all," Ms. Bach said.

"No, we'll just be going now. Thanks for the offer though," Harry said.

"Well then, I'll see you in class on Monday," she told Harry and Rose.

"We'll…" Rose started.

"See you…" Harry said.

"Then," Rose finished, grinning slightly.

"Well, at least you've got your humor back," Ms. Bach said, smiling slightly.

With that Harry and Rose left the school, while they walked home they tried to think of ways to avoid their Uncle's anger when they got back.

It took about an hour to walk back to Privet Drive from Whinging Primary, but that was mainly because they were trying to delay as long as possible before seeing their uncle again. They had been walking in silence for the past ten minutes, and they had just reached the house when Rose spoke up, 'I suppose we should just try to reach our room before Uncle Vernon can yell at us or do something worse.'

_'Yeah, it'd probably be our best bet for now, though we'll have to face him later,'_ Harry replied, looking downcast.

_'Well, lets get this over with.'_

Harry and Rose knocked on the door waiting to be let inside so they could hurry up and get to their room to avoid any more yelling from their Uncle.

"Took you long enough," Vernon said as he opened the door.

_'Bloody hell, this isn't going to end well,'_ Harry said.

_'Let's just get it over with then,'_ Rose replied.

"I said get inside!" Vernon repeated, even louder this time.

As soon as Harry and Rose stepped inside, the door was slammed shut and their uncle turned to face them.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing starting a fight with Dudley and THEN trying to blame him for it?!" their Uncle roared.

"HE STARTED IT, NOT US!" Harry shouted. He could feel his temper rising very quickly. He noticed a vase and end table start to hover a few inches off the ground.

_'Harry calm down, don't yell at him. It will only make it worse,'_ Rose pleaded.

_'I'm trying.'_

"HE DID NOT BLOODY WELL START IT, HE ISN'T A FREAK LIKE YOU TWO AND YOUR DEAD PARENTS!" he bellowed.

"OUR PARENTS WERE NOT FREAKS!" Harry screamed. His anger burst, and the vase, the windows in the sitting room, and all the picture frames shattered.

"NOW LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE BOY!" his Uncle yelled. Harry looked up in time to see a fist hit him straight in the face. His glasses bent inwards from the impact, and his nose was bloody, if not broken. The force of the hit threw him against the door.

"NEVER HIT MY BROTHER!" Rose screamed with tears in her eyes. Her rage burst and the next thing she knew she had her hand out in front of her, and her Uncle was thrown back twenty feet, hitting the wall behind him. As soon as she came out of the shock of throwing her Uncle back twenty feet she helped Harry to his feet and they quickly ran up the stairs.

As soon as they got into their room Rose laid Harry down on the bed and waved her hand, shutting and locking the door.

"Harry, Harry! Are you okay?" Rose half-shouted as her tears fell rapidly from her eyes.

Harry lifted his hand gingerly to his nose to feel the damage. It didn't appear to be broken. "Well, I'll be fine, but my nose hurts like hell. Can you hand me a tissue to stop this bleeding?" he muttered with a grin. She got up and handed him a tissue while waiting for him to say something.

"That was brilliant, how'd you throw him back like that? We've never been able to move people or objects that large, or that far," Harry said.

"I don't know, but I was so angry at him I just let it all out," Rose said sheepishly.

"Oh no, we're going to be in so much trouble," Rose said, looking frightened. As soon as she said this they heard stopping on the stairs that sounded like a herd of elephants climbing up.

_'We better be quiet. I don't think he can get into our room after we locked it,'_ Harry said. He assumed that their uncle would be storming up to yell at them and hit them more.

"GET OUT HERE NOW AND FIX YOUR UNCLE!" Petunia screamed from right outside the door. If Harry's anger hadn't broken most of the glass in the house, then the pitch of her scream would have done it for sure.

_'What's she mean fix our uncle, you only threw him back, how the hell do we fix that? And why the hell would we want to?'_ Harry said, glad that Uncle Vernon was still out cold.

_'I dunno, I didn't see anything else wrong with him,'_ Rose replied, looking forlorn.

_'It's okay Rose, everything's going to be fine,'_ Harry said, sounding more confident than he really felt. He put his arm around her and pulled her close; comforting her in the best way he knew how.

_'Harry I know you don't feel confident in that, you know that I know exactly how you feel right now,'_ Rose replied with a very slight grin.

_'Oh well, but I meant what I said. We'll be fine as long as we stay together.'_ His nose had stopped bleeding finally and the tissue he had been using was soaked in blood. He took one look at it and muttered "gross," before throwing it into the small trash can in the corner of the room.

"I SAID GET OUT OF THAT ROOM AND FIX YOUR UNCLE!" Petunia screamed again as she banged on the door trying to get them to open it.

"What's wrong with him?" Harry snapped.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM? HE'S UNCONSCIOUS BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID HOCUS POCUS!" his Aunt yelled.

"He's the one who attacked us, he'll be fine after he wakes up," Harry replied, looking disgusted at the thought of seeing his uncle again.

"OPEN THIS DOOR OR YOU'LL NEVER GET FOOD AGAIN!" she screamed.

"No," Harry replied quite simply and loudly.

"The only time we're going to come out is if we can forget about this whole mess. We're sorry for what happened, but Uncle Vernon should not have hit Harry," Rose said, finally speaking up. A moment later they heard someone walking down the stairs. Dudley must have come up the stairs the first time, there was no way Aunt Petunia could sound like a herd of elephants.

_'Hopefully if we don't come out for a few days they'll forget about this whole thing. Good thing it's the weekend,'_ Rose said.

_'How's your nose?'_

_'It hurts, but I don't think it's broken.'_

_'Let's go make sure you'll be fine,'_ Rose said as she poked her head out of the door after unlocking it. She grabbed Harry's hand and started to pull him off towards the loo.

_'Rose I'm fine, I promise.'_

_'The last time you said you were fine, you had a swollen eye for two weeks.'_

_'Oh, well I suppose you're right,'_ Harry said sheepishly.

_'I'm always right,'_ Rose said with a smirk.

"I beg to differ," Harry said under his breath.

_'What was that?'_ Rose said while glaring at Harry.

_'What? Nothing, nothing,'_ Harry said quickly.

_'That's what I thought,'_ Rose said, grinning as they got to the loo.

_'Take your glasses off,'_ Rose ordered.

_'What is this, 'order Harry around day'?'_ Harry replied indignantly, as he took his glasses off anyways, only just now noticing that one side of his glasses were bent inwards. He had not felt the glasses on his face after being punched due to the pain.

_'Take your shirt off also. Your back hit the door pretty hard, I want to make sure you're fine,'_ Rose said, ignoring his last comment.

_'Oh so it's 'strip Harry day' is it?'_ Harry said.

_'Do you want to take your pants off too?'_ Rose asked with an evil grin.

_'No, unless there's something you want to see,'_ Harry said, catching on to Rose's game.

_'How do I see something you don't have?'_ Rose replied with a smirk.

_'Touché,'_ Harry said somewhat dejectedly as he took off his shirt. Rose quickly looked over his eye before wetting a washcloth and handing it to him.

_'Hold it against your nose. It would work better if I had some ice, but this will have to do,'_ Rose said forcefully. Harry knew not to argue with her, so he took the cloth and held it against his nose. It helped a little bit. Rose went behind him to look over his back.

_'You're going to have a large bruise on your back also,'_ Rose told him.

_'Damn,'_ Harry muttered. He quickly put his shirt back on and they headed back to their room.

_'Thanks Rose,'_ Harry said as he gave her a hug.

_'Anytime,'_ Rose replied.

They spent about an hour trying to decide how best to avoid anymore conflicts when they come out of their room. They decided to turn in early to figure it out in the morning.

The next morning, Harry and Rose were surprised when they woke up. It was one of the first times they had not been awakened by the loud yelling of their aunt or uncle. Normally they would have awoken to something along the lines of "GET UP SO YOU TWO CAN START YOUR CHORES!" They were even more surprised that no one had come banging on the door after what happened the day before. They spent about an hour contemplating if they should risk going out to use the loo. In the end nature won and they decided it would be best to only make one trip and not risk multiple trips. They each grabbed a clean pair of oversized clothes and unlocked the door.

Rose poked her head out in the hall to make sure no one was outside. When she saw that it was clear she turned to Harry and nodded. They shut the door and locked it again, that way it would appear they had not left their bedroom. They hurried off to loo, where Rose locked the door and took a look at Harry's nose again. It was definitely not broken, but there would be a nasty bruise. Harry pulled his glasses out of his pocket and examined them. It appeared that the left side of his glasses were bent towards his face. He decided to try something new to fix them.

_'I'm going to try something, hopefully it will work. Can you hold my glasses? Make sure to hold them steady.'_

_'Sure Harry, what are you going to do?'_

_'I'm going to try to will them to fix themselves, kind of like how we will the door to lock and such.'_

Once Rose had the glasses held steadily in her hands, Harry placed his fingers over the bridge between the two lenses and willed the two pieces to align themselves properly. He felt something flow through his fingers as he did this and almost jumped at the feeling. He had never felt that when doing any of the other things he had tried. When he took his hands off his glasses he found that they had been mended. The bridge itself was a little bent out of shape, but otherwise the glasses appeared to be in decent condition.

_'I take it, it worked?'_ Rose asked with a grin.

_'Yep, we should try that on some of Dudley's old things in our room. Maybe we can fix the bed.'_

They quickly went about their business in the loo. They had never been shy around one another. They were best friends and twins, so they knew each other inside and out. It also helped that they had more or less never been apart, except for very short times. Once Harry and Rose had showered and relieved themselves, they decided it was best to just face their relatives now.

_'Hopefully they will just yell at us and give us more chores or something. Then we can forget about all of this,'_ Rose said as they started out of the loo and towards the stairs.

_'I know what you mean, Rose,'_ Harry replied as he put his arm around his sister and gave her a quick hug. _'With any luck we'll just have chores, but I doubt that…'_ Harry trailed off. They both knew what he was talking about. They probably would not get any food for a few days, and that was if the Dursleys were nice about it.

When they got down the stairs and into the kitchen they found it empty. What shocked them the most however, was the fact that it was ten in the morning. They had never slept that late.

_'Wow, I wonder why they let us sleep in so long,'_ Harry said.

_'I don't know, but it felt wonderful to get some real sleep for once.'_  
They had never gotten as much sleep as they would have liked. They usually went to bed late after finishing their homework because they never had time to do it during the day. That was when Vernon made them do chores.

They quickly made a late breakfast of toast and eggs. Neither of them ate a lot, they were nervous of what would happen when they faced their relatives. They could hear the tele from the living room. After they cleaned up their breakfast they sat down for a moment to collect themselves before they went into the other room.

Harry grabbed Rose's hand and gave it a squeeze as they walked into the living room. To their surprise, only Dudley was in the room. He did not seem to notice Harry and Rose standing in the doorway. When Harry cleared his throat, Dudley jumped up and scurried from the room as fast as his legs could carry him, which wasn't very fast in all consideration.

_'What was that all about?'_ Harry asked as he stared after Dudley's retreating backside.

_'I have no idea, but it was kind of funny,'_ Rose replied. They looked at each other before bursting out laughing. They had no idea what was so funny, but the look on Dudley's face when he had seen Harry and Rose was priceless.

_'You'd have thought he saw a ghost or something,'_ Harry said while trying to control his laughter.

_'Do you think we should go find Dudley again and ask him where Uncle Vernon is, or do you think he'd wet himself if he saw us again?'_ Harry asked.

_'He'd probably wet himself, let's look around for a little bit and see if Uncle Vernon is home. Otherwise let's just wait until he gets back,'_ Rose said quickly. They set about looking for their uncle. After about ten minutes they decided he wasn't in the house. They were currently back in the living room when Rose said, _'I think Dudley was scared of us.'_

_'You're joking right?'_

_'No, I mean he looked like he saw a ghost. I can't think of any other reason for him to bolt like that. How did he run anyways? He can barely walk. He doesn't even move that fast for food.'_

_'I suppose, but why would he be scared of us though?'_ Harry asked as they turned to go back upstairs to their room.

_'Oh I dunno, maybe because we knocked out our uncle last night,'_ Rose said sarcastically as she rapped Harry on the head.

"Ouch!" Harry said as he covered his head with his hands.

_'Stop trying to injure me, Rose!'_ Harry said as he put his hands between himself and Rose, playfully trying to fend her off.

_'If I did that, then I wouldn't be having any fun,'_ Rose replied as she tried to tickle him. Harry swatted her hands away and ran up the stairs. When he reached the top of the stairs he stopped abruptly because he saw his Aunt coming out of the master bedroom. Just as he was about to ask her where Uncle Vernon was, she turned and went right back in. The door slammed shut, and with a click it was locked. At the same time, Rose ran into Harry when he had stopped. Harry fell forward, sprawled on the top of the stairs, while Rose fell and slid down to the bottom of the stairs with a resounding thump as she hit the bottom.

_'Why the hell did you stop for, Harry?'_ Rose demanded angrily as she stood up and rubbed her bum.

_'Sorry Rose, Aunt Petunia was walking out of her room when I got up the stairs and I was about to ask her where Uncle Vernon was, but as soon as she saw me she went straight back into her room,'_ Harry replied as he picked himself up off the floor.

_'Well make sure you let me get up the stairs first before you stop next time. Falling down a bunch of stairs isn't my idea of fun,'_ Rose said as she climbed the stairs to join Harry.

_'Sorry,'_ Harry muttered, _'it was kind of funny watching you slide down the stairs though,'_ he added as an afterthought.

_'Oh shut up,'_ Rose said with a slight grin. She proceeded to grab his hand and drag him to their room. She quickly unlocked the door and pulled him inside. Once inside she locked the door and asked, _'So, do you want to try to fix up this room a little bit?'_

They set about trying to fix up the room the same way Harry fixed his glasses. The bed ended up proving difficult to fix, but in the end they were able to mend a few of the springs making it more comfortable. However, they quickly realized that there was not much to fix because there was not much in the room to begin with. They ended up mending a crack in the desk and a loose drawer in the dresser, but other than that not much else could be fixed.

_'Well at least the bed is a bit better,'_ Rose sighed as she looked around the barren room.

_'Yeah, well I wasn't complaining about the bed before, but this is much nicer,'_ Harry said. He was lying down on the bed and patted a spot for Rose to come lay down on. She walked over and lay down next to Harry, resting her head on his chest as he pulled her close.

_'I really wish we had our parents Harry. We wouldn't have to deal with these people they call our "relatives",'_ Rose said as tears rolled down her face. She had been thinking a lot about their parents lately. She and Harry missed them terribly. Neither she nor Harry may remember them, but they knew in their hearts that they were good people.

_'It'll be okay Rose, we'll always have each other,'_ Harry promised as he hugged her tighter and kissed her on the forehead. He hated to see his sister cry. They laid there in silence thinking about life without the Dursleys. After a while they were both asleep, wrapped closely together.

A/N: Once again, if you guys liked this story, then I direct you towards my other story The Epoch of the War. Chapter 5 soon! Thanks for the reviews!


	5. New Beginnings

Chapter 5: New Beginnings

Harry and Rose woke up the next morning to the sound of shouting coming from downstairs. The odd thing about it was that it was not directed at them. They couldn't tell what was being said, so they decided to get dressed and see what was going on. They noticed that it was eight in the morning, and wondered why they were able to sleep in so late compared to normal.

They headed towards the stairs and heard someone shouting.

"…WHERE ARE THEY?" the man shouted.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you have no right to come in here shouting up a storm and demanding anything from me," someone else shouted back. They recognized that voice as belonging to Uncle Vernon.

They walked a bit further to see who the other man was. Uncle Vernon was shouting at some man with shoulder length black hair. His face was etched with exhaustion, it looked like he had been up for days on end or had been very busy. He was well built and looked to be around his early thirties, he had gray eyes that looked haunted, as if he had been chasing something for a very long time with no comforts. He was quite a bit taller than Uncle Vernon. If he wasn't so exhausted he would look like the type to have women flocking over him, but the glint in his eyes clearly said he was pissed off.

"WHERE ARE MY GODCHILDREN?" the man shouted. Harry and Rose looked at each other, _'Godchildren?'_ They stepped off the stairs and came into full view. The man noticed them and stopped short of advancing on Uncle Vernon.

"Harry? Rose?" he asked slowly, taking in their appearances. They nodded, wondering who the man was. The man saw Harry's nose and turned to Uncle Vernon with a vicious glint in his eye.

"Why does my godson have a bruised nose?" he asked in a deadly tone. When he said godson, Harry and Rose both looked at him abruptly, clearly confused and suspicious about what he just said.

"He tripped and fell into the side of a table," Uncle Vernon lied. It was clear by his body language that he was lying, for he had looked down at his feet when he had said this. The other man turned to Harry and asked, "Harry, how did you get injured?" His voice sounded compassionate and angry at the same time. Something about it told Harry he was not angry at him, and was honestly concerned about his well being.

_'Should we tell him Rose? I think he's really concerned about me or us,'_ Harry said while looking at her.

_'I think we should tell him, you're right he does seem to care,'_ Rose agreed after thinking for a moment.

_'I wonder who he is though,'_ Harry pondered.

_'I don't know, but I expect we'll find out soon enough. Go on and tell him,'_ Rose encouraged.

"He punched me," Harry told the man.

"Who punched you?" the man asked sharply.

"Uncle Vernon," Harry said.

"I did not! Don't believe one lie this freak tells you," sputtered Uncle Vernon. At this the man hit Uncle Vernon hard in the gut. As Uncle Vernon was bent over from the force of the punch, he was lifted back up with another punch to the face. Vernon stumbled backwards from the force of both the hits. He was clearly scared of this other man.

"Petunia call the police!" Vernon yelled with one hand over his stomach and the other rubbing his nose where he was struck.

"I think not, you clearly abused Harry, you will be the one in trouble with these 'police' or whatever you call them," the man said quietly, but with astonishing force.

"Uhm, sir how do you know our names?" Rose asked finally speaking up.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Sirius your godfather. James and Lily named me your godfather shortly after your birth," Sirius said.

"James and Lily?" Rose asked confusedly.

"Oh…uhm this could take a while. Do you have somewhere that we can talk?" Sirius asked as he cast a glance around the room.

"Yea we can go up to our room," Harry said.

"You will get of this house right now!" Uncle Vernon sputtered apparently he had gotten his confidence back.

"You can't do anything you bastard," Sirius said coldly, while twirling this wand through his fingers.

"Let's go up to your room Harry, Rose," Sirius said. He followed them up the stairs into their room. Once inside the room Sirius was about to shut and lock the door, but it was already done for him.

"Er…how'd that happen?" Sirius asked.

"We shut it and locked it," Rose said.

"What do you mean, you weren't even near the door," Sirius said thoroughly confused.

"Oh well we just flick our hands and will it to shut and lock and it does," Harry explained. Sirius quickly flicked his wand at the door before putting it away.

"What'd you just do?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"I put a silencing charm on the room, so no one outside can hear us," Sirius explained.

"You can silence a whole room? We only figured out how to silence a person or object," Rose said.

"Yes you can, but how are you two able to do magic without a wand?" Sirius asked.

"What do you mean magic? And we kind of figured it out when we were seven or so. We just will something to do what we want it to, and it works to an extent. We can summoning objects, make them float, push them away, make some sort of shield that blocks physical objects, and we can lock doors," Harry said.

"You two are magical. You're a wizard Harry, and you Rose, are a witch! Didn't your relatives ever tell you? But, wow you must be really powerful to be able to do that with out a wand whenever you want," Sirius said.

"No…they never told us anything," Harry replied.

"Oh, this is going to take a while," Sirius muttered.

"Okay so let me start from the beginning and explain what happened as to why you are stuck in this obvious hellhole. Wait until I finish before you ask any questions please," Sirius said.

"There was once an evil wizard named Lord Voldemort, however everyone called him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named because they feared him. He had been terrorizing people around the country for over a decade. He would murder people for sport. Everybody lived in fear. There was an organization that fought against him called The Order of the Phoenix. Your mother and father, Lily and James, were part of it. They fought against his followers, Death Eaters. I was part of the Order also. Shortly after you were both born, Dumbledore called James and Lily in to talk with them. James told me it was about a prophecy concerning both of you; he wouldn't tell me the specifics, but he said that Voldemort was after both of you and they were to go into hiding. I can only assume that both of you were a threat to him, otherwise he would have no reason to really go after two babies."

"They were going to perform the Fidelius Charm on the house and go into hiding. The Fidelius Charm is pretty much a charm that hides the house from anyone, unless the person is told the address directly from the Secret Keeper. The Secret Keeper is the sole person who can tell where the house is located. Even if you know where it is you can not say. So the next day after they had moved in with you two, they asked me to come to be their Secret Keeper. I was James' best mate, and we trusted each other with our lives. The problem was Voldemort knew I would be their Secret Keeper, so he would come after me to try to force the information out of me. I decided that it would be best if we made someone else the Secret Keeper, someone he would never suspect. I convinced James to make Peter Pettigrew the Secret Keeper. He was a weak wizard always following us around. We thought he was our friend, and it would be the perfect way to throw Voldemort off. He would come after me for the information in which I would not have and James and Lily would be safe," Sirius took a deep breath to steady his emotions before continuing. His eyes were full of sadness and grief from having to retell the story of his best friends' deaths.

"So, Lily cast the Fidelius Charm and made Pettigrew the Secret Keeper. They went into hiding for a few months. We thought everything would be fine. However, Halloween of the next year Voldemort appeared on their doorstep and killed both of them. He tried to kill you two, but for some reason it didn't work. Instead he was killed and you two were left parentless and with those scars. I had checked on Pettigrew earlier that evening to make sure everything was okay, but he was not home. I instantly went to your parents' house, but when I got there it was too late. They were dead, but fortunately you two were some how alive. I knew instantly that Pettigrew had betrayed us all. I was about to go after him before Hagrid stopped me. He told me to wait until Dumbledore arrived; he was the leader of the Order."

"When Dumbledore got there I tried to tell him that you two would be safest with me and to let me raise you two. I desperately wanted to take care of you two and technically I had the full right to being your godfather. After everything James and Lily had done for me, it was the least I could do in their memories; however, Dumbledore would not let me. He insisted that you two be taken to your Aunt's house. He said something about blood magic protecting you two from any outside threats. I trusted his judgment in where to place you. If he thought you would be safe then I wasn't about to argue too much with Pettigrew still free," Sirius finished, tears were slowly rolling down his face as he finished telling them the story. He hated reliving that night when his best mate and his wife had been killed.

"Do you guys have any questions?" Sirius asked.

"What was the green flash of light? We've had nightmares about it before and some man was laughing in the background," Rose asked tentatively. Sirius' face paled when he heard the question. It was a moment before he answered.

"The Killing Curse," he said quietly.

"Oh," Rose said in a small voice. Harry wrapped his arm around his sister and pulled her close, comforting her in the best way he could.

Harry looked up at Sirius angrily and shouted, "WHY ARE YOU JUST NOW COMING FOR US? DO YOU KNOW HOW EVIL THESE BLOODY 'RELATIVES' OF OURS ARE?! DO YOU KNOW HOW THEY TREAT US EVERYDAY?!"

Sirius looked down at the floor before looking back up to meet Harry's gaze. His eyes were full of sadness and regret. "I'm sorry…Harry, Rose. Dumbledore said he would make sure you were safe and happy. He promised me he would make sure you were safe and happy. I went to catch Pettigrew. I couldn't bear to let him walk free, since Dumbledore said you two would not need me. If I had known I would have been back here instantly. I'm so sorry Harry and Rose. Please forgive me," Sirius said quietly.

"Who is this Dumbledore, besides the leader of the Order of the Phoenix?" Rose asked angrily.

"He's the Headmaster of Hogwarts, but most importantly he's one of the most powerful wizards in the world. He is the only one that Voldemort ever feared," Sirius said.

"What's Hogwarts?" Harry asked. He and Rose were looking at Sirius skeptically. The magic part of his explanation made sense to them, but all of this was a lot to take in.

_'This keeps getting stranger and stranger Rose.'_

"Hogwarts is a school where young witches and wizards go to learn magic. You start when you're eleven in your first year and attend for seven years," Sirius explained.

"And as to why I'm just now coming besides what Dumbledore said about you two being safe and happy, I've been talking to Dumbledore. I spent the better part of the last week trying to convince him to let me come and get the two of you so I could spend time with you until you start school. This gives us a little less than two years to catch up on lost time, if you would like. I was able to capture Pettigrew a little over a week ago. It took me the better part of the past eight years to track him down," Sirius continued. "Dumbledore also seems to think he knows what is best for you two, but obviously not," Sirius added.

"Wait, so it's his bloody fault that we've been abused? We've never had anything, no love, no proper clothes, hardly enough food,_NOTHING_!" Harry said putting emphasis on the last part. Sirius looked at Harry with shock.

"We've always been looked down upon. Always been called worthless, freaks, unnatural, stupid, and don't make me list anymore of what he calls us. We've never been hugged; WE LIVED IN A GOD DAMN CUPBOARD FOR THREE YEARS!" Harry shouted the last part, tears rolling down both his and Rose's faces. Sirius just stared at them before leaping from his seat and enveloping both of them into a tight hug. Harry stiffened for a moment before hugging Sirius back.

"I'm so sorry, he promised me," Sirius whispered. "He promised me he would make sure you were both safe and happy. HE FUCKING PROMISED ME!" he shouted the last part enraged at Dumbledore for having let these two kids suffer so much and the hands of these monsters.

"I should have checked on you two. I should have made sure you were okay. I knew Dumbledore would forget to check up on you. I knew these people were unpleasant, but I never knew they were capable of this. I'm going to give Dumbledore a piece of mind later. I'm so sorry," Sirius continued apologetically. He seemed to be holding back his tears, but regret and sadness were written all over his face.

"It's not your fault Sirius, we're glad you caught Pettigrew. He deserves to be in prison," Rose said as she hugged Sirius back. Harry and Rose may not have known Sirius for more than hour or so, but they already liked him more than anyone else they had ever met.

_'I like Sirius, Rose. He seems to be really concerned about us, and it doesn't seem like he had much of a choice on what to do,'_ Harry said. The three of them sat on the bed hugging each other for a few moments before Sirius spoke up.

"Sorry about that, I'm never emotional, but James and Lily's kids being abused is just too much. I mean James was my best mate," Sirius said, reminiscing on old times.

"It's okay, it's nice to have a hug from someone other than ourselves," Rose said.

"Alright, well do you two have anymore questions?" Sirius asked.

"Uhm, yea…" Harry started, he was nervous about asking what he and Rose really wanted to know.

"Well, what is it then?" Sirius asked. He noticed Harry's nervousness.

"Well, we were uhm…wondering," Harry continued.

"We were wondering if we still have to live here with the Dursleys," Rose asked.

"Well that's what I just said a few minutes ago," Sirius said with a grin. "I persuaded Dumbledore to let you two stay with me until you two start school. However, I did not tell him what I wanted to do during that time," Sirius continued.

"Really?!" Rose said, grinning broadly. The joy Harry and Rose felt was incomprehensible. To finally be able to live with someone that cared for them was a dream come true.

"Well that's what I just said isn't it?" Sirius joked. His face fell though just before he spoke again. "However, after your first year at Hogwarts you will have to go back to the Dursleys for part, if not all of the summer. I'll try to persuade Dumbledore, but he's well too fond of 'Blood Magic' if you ask me," Sirius finished.

"What? Why?" Harry said, he and Rose desperately wanted to never see the Dursleys again.

"Dumbledore thinks 'Blood Magic' will protect you from Merlin knows what, so since your Aunt is your mother's sister…well you get the picture. As of right now you've spent enough time at the Dursleys these past eight years to be able to go a little less than three years with out being here, but I'm going to try to persuade him to let you leave here for good after I've given him a piece of my mind," Sirius told them.

"Alright well we need to go get you two the things you will need," Sirius said as he stood up and looked at his watch.

"What do we need and what will we need it for?" Harry asked. Sirius had yet to tell them what he wanted to do during the time he spent with them.

"Oh, right I forgot to tell you. I want to train you two, it's a long story that I'm afraid I do not want to burden you with right now. If you will trust me I will tell you in a few years. It would be better if you do not know yet, but I want you to be ready for when you do learn of it. What I'm going to do along with a friend of mine, who happened to be a great friend of your parents, and a tutor or so, is train you in magic and fighting," Sirius said.

"Why fighting?" Rose asked. The idea of being trained in magic sounded appealing to both Harry and Rose, but the thought of fighting was not all that appealing.

"The reason behind that is part of what I will tell you when you're older, but just know that Voldemort is not dead. He will be back, and I want you two to be prepared for that.

"Oh, okay," Harry said uncertainly. The prospect of fighting made them uneasy, but if Voldemort was coming back and he was everything Sirius made him out to be then they needed to be ready.

_'I think he's doing this in our best interests, and if we caused him to 'die' or whatever happened to him then I bet he's going to be angry with us.'_

_'Yeah, that's probably true and any place will be better than this place.'_

"Okay, we'll do it," Harry said.

"How are we getting there and where are we going?" Rose asked after looking out of the window. She didn't see a car or any other type of transportation.

"We'll floo there of course, from Mrs. Figg's house and then we are going to Diagon Alley," Sirius answered.

"Floo? And Mrs. Figg is a witch?" Harry asked, thoroughly confused.

"Oh I keep forgetting you don't know all the Wizarding terms. Flooing somewhere is more or less traveling by fireplace. You toss some Floo Powder into the fire and say the name of where you want to go and you go through the fireplace to the fireplace of where you said. Though it needs to be connected through the Floo Network," Sirius said, before adding, "Mrs. Figg is a squib, person born to magical parents who cannot do magic."

"Oh and how are we going to pay for whatever we need? We don't have any money," Rose said. She and Harry both knew the Dursleys would _never_ give them any money.

"What you think James and Lily would leave you with nothing? They left you plenty," Sirius said with a grin.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked.

"Oh nothing, just that the Potters are _the_ richest wizarding family. Your family goes back over a thousand years. Though James said it was under a different surname for a while," Sirius said, his grin had grown bigger at the shocked expressions on Harry and Rose's faces.

"You're saying we're rich? You must be off your rocker old man. The Dursleys would have taken all of our money for themselves if we were rich," Harry said.

"Old man? I'm not old!" Sirius said indignantly. "You really are rich. The Dursleys have no idea because it's wizarding money. You only have access to your trust fund account anyways until you are fifteen," Sirius informed them.

"You're serious aren't you?" Harry said.

"Of course I'm Sirius, who else do you think I would be?" Sirius said sarcastically.

"Oh shut up," Harry said.

"Well I'll go have a quick word with your dear relatives before we go. Wait here until I'm done," Sirius told them. He left the after removing the locking charm. It was ten minutes before he came back.

"Well if you have to come back here in about three years they should be better," Sirius said as he walked in the door. "Well let's get going then," Sirius told them, as he held the door open for them. Harry and Rose quickly grabbed their letters from under the loose floorboard before leaving with Sirius. They quickly walked over to Mrs. Figg's house on Wisteria Walk. Her house still smelt of cats and cabbage. Harry and Rose had always had to look at pictures of her old cats when they were forced to go over there by the Dursleys. Sirius quickly instructed them to throw a pinch of Floo Powder into the fireplace before stepping in to the green flames and clearly saying were they want to go.

"Alright so remember to clearly say 'Diagon Alley' after you toss the powder into the fire," Sirius reminded them. Harry tentatively took a pinch of Floo Powder and tossed it into the fire. The flames roared up to life, emerald green in color.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Yes. Hurry and go, Harry," Sirius said chuckling as he gave Harry a nudge forward.

Harry stepped into the fire and said, "Diagon Alley." The next thing he knew was that he was spinning. He opened his eyes and saw other fireplaces go whizzing past him as he spun. After what seemed like hours, but was really a few seconds, he felt like he couldn't take any more spinning. At the same time he shot out of a fireplace and sprawled onto a dusty, wooden floor. A moment later Rose shot out of the fire landing on top of him.

_'Mmph…did you have to land on top of me Rose?'_ Harry asked.

_'Sorry, Harry,'_ Rose said, as she picked herself up off Harry. Harry picked himself up off the floor after Rose had stood up. Sirius appeared with a 'pop' right next to them.

"Well I can't say that was pleasant," Harry said. Harry and Rose looked around and saw they were in a dimly lit pub. It wasn't full, but it wasn't empty either. They could see people here and there talking and drinking amongst themselves. No one paid any heed to the new arrivals except for the barman.

"Where are we?" Rose asked.

"This is the Leaky Cauldron," Sirius said. Harry noticed the barman walking over towards them.

"Hello Sirius, it's been a while. Can I get you anything?" the man asked.

"No thanks Tom, I have business in Diagon Alley, maybe I'll stop by some other time," Sirius said. Tom gave him a toothless grin and nodded before going back to the bar. As he was heading back to the bar, he did a double take back at Harry and Rose. His eyes went wide in shock, but he noticed Sirius giving him a look and nodded before going back to work.

"Uhm, Sirius, why did he look shocked when he saw us?" Rose asked.

"Well because you two are famous," Sirius said.

"Famous? How can we be famous? You didn't mention that earlier," Harry said incredulously.

"Well, you're famous for defeating Voldemort," Sirius said uneasily.

"What?! We don't want to be famous for that. He killed our parents! We'd much rather have our parents than be famous!" Harry said loudly. Heads turned towards Harry's voice. Several faces flicked their gaze towards Harry and Rose's heads before muttering to the person they were with. They all stared at Harry and Rose. Sirius motioned for them to leave out the back quickly. Once outside they found themselves facing a brick wall; Sirius looked over to them before speaking softly.

"I know you would much rather have your parents than be famous, but you can't change that now. So you're going to have to deal with it. There's nothing you can do about it now," Sirius said seriously. "You're going to have to get used to the staring and just ignore it," he added. He pulled out his wand and tapped a series of bricks. The bricks moved aside to reveal a busy street. Witches and Wizards of all sizes were running around from store to store with purchases in hand. Most all wore robes of varying colors from purple to pink and everything in between. Harry and Rose stared around in awe. Many posters had moving pictures of advertisements.

"This is incredible," Rose muttered, in awe.

"Haha, I suppose it is if you've never seen it before," Sirius said. "Let's go to Gringotts first to get you some money to buy everything," he added, as he motioned for them to follow. After walking for about five minutes, they reached a snowy white building that stood high above all the other smaller stores. It had burnished bronze doors, and next to the doors stood a small creature in a scarlet and gold uniform.

"Well here we are, Gringotts," Sirius said.

"What are those Sirius?" Rose asked as she pointed to the creature.

"That's a goblin, I recommend giving them plenty respect when dealing with them," Sirius warned Harry and Rose. They walked inside the first set of doors and found a second set in front of them. These doors were silver with words engraved upon them:

_Enter, stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed,  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn,  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there._

"Well, that's a very nice message," Rose said sarcastically, after she had read the warning.

"Well you would be crazy to try to rob Gringotts. There are dragons and all sorts of things guarding the vaults," Sirius informed them.

"Dragons are real?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Of course they are real," Sirius said.

_'Wow, next he's going to tell us unicorns and fairy's are real,'_ Rose said.

_'He probably will, I dare you to ask,'_ Harry said, with a grin.

"Are unicorns and fairy's real also then Sirius?" Rose asked.

"What? Yes, of course they're real. Why?" Sirius asked.

"I wanted to know if they were real of course," Rose replied, while grinning at Harry.

They followed Sirius up to a counter with a free goblin. Many other goblins were helping other people with their business, while goblins further behind the counter had scales out and were measuring gold and such.

"Excuse me sir, I'd like to access Mr. and Miss Potter's vault," Sirius said to the goblin.

"Do you have the key?" the goblin asked.

"Yes, I have it somewhere," Sirius said. He stuck his hands in his pockets as he searched for the key. A moment later, he pulled out a small golden key and handed it to the goblin. The goblin took the key and looked it over for a moment before nodding and saying, "Griphook here will take you down to the vault." He handed the key back to Sirius and Griphook, another goblin, motioned for them to follow. They followed Griphook into a narrow stone passageway. They reached a set railway tracks and saw a cart sitting on the tracks in front of them. The goblin motioned for them to get in and Harry and Rose followed Sirius into it. Griphook got into the cart with them and then they were off. The cart hurtled across the tracks taking turns here and there. It somehow knew exactly were to go for after about a minute or two they arrived at the vault.

_'Well that sure was a ride, I wouldn't mind going on it again,'_ Harry said to Rose. Rose just giggled as they watched Griphook.

"Well, here we are," Griphook said, as he opened the vault door with the key Sirius had handed to him. Harry and Rose gasped audibly in astonishment at the view in front of them. There in front of them were mounds upon mounds of gold, silver and bronze.

"This is our trust fund account?" Harry said incredulously.

"Yes, and that's nothing compared to what is in your family vault," Sirius said as he handed each of them a money bag.

"The gold coins are Galleons, the silver are Sickles and bronze are Knuts. Seventeen Sickles per Galleon and Twenty-nine Knuts per Sickle," Sirius told them. Harry and Rose quickly scooped a large amount of Galleons, some Sickles and a few Knuts into each of their bags. They figured they'd mostly be dealing with Galleons, so they made sure to mainly get those. They exited the vault before getting back into the cart. They hurtled back to the passageway taking a different route this time, but it was the same neck breaking ride as before.

Once they were back in the lobby of Gringotts, they once again headed towards to counter. Sirius wanted them to exchange some galleons for "Muggle money" as he put it. He told them a Muggle was a non magical person. They exchanged fifty galleons for about six hundred pounds. Once they had the pounds, Sirius led them back into the Leaky Cauldron and out the front door into "Muggle" London.

"We need to get you guys some clothes that actually fit you and sign you up for your self-defense lessons. Most wizards underestimate the usefulness of self-defense and physical fitness. So, first, we will get you some clothes, and then we'll sign you up for the two different systems of self-defense you will be learning. I'll explain each one when we get to the place," Sirius informed them.

"We get new clothes?" Rose asked the excitement evident in her voice. New clothes were something Rose had always wanted, while Harry did not care as much as Rose did about his clothes, he still wanted something of his own.

"Yes, there is a department store a few blocks down where we can get everything you will need," Sirius replied.

_'We're getting clothes Harry!'_ Rose said as he bounced excitedly on her feet. Harry just grinned at her. He loved to see his sister happy.

They walked with Sirius to the department store. London was a much busier place than they had ever imagined. Cars were everywhere and there were many people walking around. After a few blocks of walking through the crowds of people, they reached the department store Sirius was talking about. It was a pretty generic building, but it was larger than most of the stores along the streets. They walked through the sliding doors into the store.

All around them were clothes of all assortments. The men's section was to the right, and the women's to the left. There were escalators in the middle of the store leading up to the second floor. They followed Sirius upstairs and into the children's section. Sirius found an employee working in the section to help them pick out clothes for Harry and Rose. He told the employee that they would need everyday clothes and clothes for exercising. She quickly looked them over for sizes before she started to pile them up with clothes to try on.

"Boxers or briefs?" the woman asked Harry.

"Huh?" Harry replied.

"Do you want boxers or briefs?" the woman asked again. Rose started to giggle, while Sirius just looked at Harry with amusement.

"Erm," Harry said thoroughly embarrassed to be asked this. "Boxers I guess," he finished after a moment of deliberation. The woman quickly grabbed a few sets of boxers for Harry before moving on to clothes to Rose. When she got to Rose's undergarments, it was Rose's turn to be embarrassed when the woman handed her a few sets of panties.

They had all sorts of clothes to try on. Harry had an assortment of t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, polo shirts, shorts, jeans, pants, and jackets to try on. Rose had dresses, skirts, blouses, t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, jeans and sweaters to try on. They each got a changing room to try on all of the clothes the woman had picked out for them.

_'I must say, the woman has pretty good taste. I like most of these clothes,'_ Rose said while she was trying on a plaid skirt and black blouse.

_'Uhm, I guess. I just want new clothes. I'd have no idea where to look if she hadn't picked them out for me.'_

After trying on all of the assortments of clothes Harry and Rose had picked out clothes for all seasons so they would not have to get new clothes for a while. They paid for the clothes before they went downstairs to find shoes. Sirius told them they would need trainers that were good for running, so they would not hurt themselves running in shoes not made for long runs.

"Wait, we're going to be running?" Harry asked in disbelief. He had always been a faster runner, but he had never liked it all that much.

"Well that's part of physical fitness now isn't it?" Sirius replied with a grin.

"I guess…" Harry replied. Rose did not seem any happier at the prospect of running. Nevertheless, they picked out trainers that were comfortable and would be good for running. After everything was paid for, they changed into a pair of their new clothes and trainers before Sirius shrunk their bags when no one was watching, and slipped them into his pockets.

"Well how about we go get lunch before we go visit the last two places?" Sirius asked. Harry and Rose quickly agreed and they headed to a near by restaurant that served mainly fish and chips. After a quick but large lunch, they headed back out onto the streets of London to sign Harry and Rose up for self-defense lessons. Sirius said they were within five blocks of each other, so it would not take too long.

The first place they came to after fifteen minutes of walking was Johnson's Krav Maga. Sirius stopped and looked at it for a moment before turning to Harry and Rose.

"So the first style you will be learning is Krav Maga. Krav Maga is something you do not want to mess around with. I had to talk to the owner a lot to get him to teach it to you two. Normally he would not teach anyone younger than sixteen, but I talked him into giving you two private lessons. He will explain more about it inside," Sirius told them. Harry and Rose looked at each other wondering what they got themselves into. They entered the building and it appeared to be empty. There was a front desk with some pens and such on top, but they could not see what was on the other side of it. Most of the room was covered in a mat slightly raised above the carpet surrounding it. A few chairs were spread out along the carpet. There was a hallway in the back that looked like it let to changing rooms and another hallway on the left of the building that led to a few different doors.

"He'll be out soon. He's expecting us in about five minutes," Sirius said, after looking at his watch. A few minutes later a man walked out of one of the doors from the left hallway. He was about thirty, well-built, and average height. What attracted the most attention though, was his face. He had a scar on his right cheek. It was not very big, but it was noticeable. The look on his face told people not to get on his bad side; it seemed to be imprinted on his face even when he smiled at Sirius.

"Hello Evan," Sirius said, as he stood up to shake the man's hand.

"Hello Sirius," the man named Evan replied.

"This is Evan Johnson, Evan this is Harry and Rose," Sirius said making the introductions.

"Hello Harry, Rose," Evan said.

"Hi Mr. Johnson," they replied.

"So, you want to learn Krav Maga?" Evan asked. They looked at Sirius and he nodded.

"Yes," Harry replied.

"Well let's sit down and I'll tell you about," Evan said as he motioned for them to sit down. He pulled up a chair in front of them before speaking.

"Normally I do not teach anyone under the age of sixteen for a few reasons. Krav Maga is not something to be taken lightly. This is not a sport like many of the martial arts out in the world. The object of what you learn is to be able to neutralize an opponent as rapidly and safely as possible while causing as much damage. It assumes you are in a life threatening situation. Basically you use whatever you have in order to escape as fast as possible and cause the maximum amount of damage. You want to go from defending yourself to attacking as quickly as possible. We train under various circumstances from being outnumbered, to being injured, dizzy, or having someone with you that you must protect. There is no "ranking" system like in martial arts. You need to stay physically fit otherwise you will injure yourself," Evan told seriously.

"Do not take this lightly if you choose to learn this. I expect you to put your all into learning this when you are in a lesson and to practice daily in order to keep up and improve. If there was anything you should have gotten from this, it is that _there are no rules in a fight_. Your opponent is not going to be "nice" to you. In a life or death situation they are not going to give you a chance to get up off the ground if they knock you down. They are going to fight dirty and do everything they can to cause you physical harm. Use anything and everything you have to finish and get away safely," Evan finished. "Now, any questions?" he asked.

"What exactly are we learning?" Harry asked. The whole concept of life threatening situations scared Harry and Rose, but if Sirius felt they needed to learn it then they would. It would be interesting to say the least.

"Well you will start out learning different strikes and common techniques, but do not think everything is going to revolve around the common ideals. Often times, situations are unconventional and call for creative ideas on how to get out of them. After you learn the basics you will learn different methods of fighting, such as knife attacks, hostage situations, learning how to fight while ignoring peripheral distractions, but learning to recognize ones that are threatening. I could go into a lot more detail, but it would be better if you just see it as you learn it," he answered.

"Now since you are so young, you will have private lessons because it would be hard for you to work with people over twice your size and much taller than you," Evan informed them.

"What do we need to do outside of the private lessons, sir?" Rose asked uncertainly. They would be learning a lot from what Sirius told them and they needed to have time to do everything.

"Well you need to get in shape. For one you need to start eating more, you're too thin right now to work out beyond getting in basic shape. Work out daily, slowly increasing everything you do in order to get stronger, quicker, and more stamina. You will also need to practice on the days you do not have lessons, though I would recommend it if you practiced everyday, but remember be careful with what you do. You do not want to injure yourself or each other, but do not let that affect your work. It needs to have effort put into it so it can be effective," he answered. "You do not need to call me sir, just Evan. This is not a normal martial arts school were you have professors, grand masters, and all that jazz. Everyone calls each other by their first name," Evan added. "Anymore questions?"

"No," Harry answered.

"Okay, so I take you it you two still want lessons?" Evan asked with anticipation. Harry and Rose looked promising; otherwise he would never have agreed to teach anyone so young.

"Yes we do," Rose replied somewhat enthusiastically.

"Okay, well I need Sirius to sign these forms. Your lessons will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. You will need to dress in tight fitting and flexible clothing. You can buy it here if you do not already have appropriate clothing," he offered.

"We already got that covered," Sirius replied. Harry looked at Sirius questioningly. They had not bought anything tight fitting when they were shopping, but he did not say anything to Sirius about it.

"Alright, lessons will start on Wednesday, I need time to prepare what I want to start with and give you time to eat properly and start exercising," Evan told them as they left the building.

"Well, how'd you guys like him?" Sirius asked while turning to Harry and Rose.

"He's nice, but this Krav Maga is kind of scary. Interesting, but scary," Rose answered.

"I know it's kind of hard to get around the whole 'causing as much damage as possible' concept, but it's very important you learn this and I have a feeling you will enjoy working with it," Sirius explained to them.

"Now let's go to the last place then I can show you where you will be living for the next two years, and the other two people who will be helping to train you," Sirius informed them.

They walked with Sirius for a few blocks, talking about nothing in particular, when they came upon a shopping mall. They followed him over to the main strip of stores and near the end was a smaller building next to the major department store.

The building had windows on either side of the glass door. The left window read International Aikido Federation. They could see students practicing inside the building on the mats. They were doing various rolls, throws, and joint locks to each other. Harry and Rose followed Sirius inside the building where they took some seats to watch the students while they waited for whoever was going to talk to them.

A short while later the lesson ended and the students went into the back to change out of their uniforms. A Japanese woman approached them. She was in her late twenties, rather tall and had flowing black hair that came halfway down her back. Even though Harry was only nine and not interested in the female species beyond friendship, he knew this woman was very pretty. Rose looked over to see Sirius staring at the woman; she nudged Harry to do something about Sirius.

"Ouch," Sirius exclaimed as Harry pinched his arm. "What was that for?" he asked while glaring at Harry.

"Stop staring at her, she's about to talk to us," Harry muttered.

"Hello Sirius," the woman greeted him.

"Hello Kaye," Sirius replied with a slight blush. He quickly shook himself and reminded himself that they were here for Harry and Rose.

"Harry, Rose this is Kaye Watanabe. Kaye this is Harry and Rose," Sirius said making the introductions once again.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Harry, Rose," the woman said as she shook their hands respectively.

"It's nice to meet you too," they responded in unison.

"Sirius here tells me you have an interest in learning Aikido," Kaye said with interest in Harry and Rose. She noticed the scar on both of their foreheads, but did not say anything about it.

"Yes, we do ma'am," Rose answered.

"Please call me Ms. Watt," she said politely.

"Well, let me tell you about Aikido. I won't go into the history of it, but I will explain what you will be learning," she informed them.

"Aikido is a Japanese martial art, it is based off of grappling and joint locks; grappling is more or less throwing. You will learn how to properly roll, and defend yourself while keeping your opponent moderately safe from too much harm; however, you must learn it precisely because you can cause a great amount of harm if not done properly. You will learn how to fight against multiple attackers. Depending on how well you learn this and how long you stick with it I may teach you how to use different weapons, but that will be a long time from now," she explained to them. "Any questions?" she asked.

_'So, we're learning two different forms of self-defense. One that is supposed to do as much damage as possible and one that is suppose to do as little as possible, but keep you safe,'_ Rose mulled over this with Harry.

_'Seems almost contradictory if you ask me…'_ Harry muttered.

_'Yea, but it does make sense to see both sides of the spectrum,'_ Rose added.

_'I like this more than Krav Maga at the moment though. I don't fancy hurting anyone badly, but you're right it does make sense to see both points. Learn the advantages and disadvantages of each,'_ Harry replied

"I think you covered everything we really wanted to know about it," Harry said.

"Wait, what do we have to do outside of the lessons?" Rose said remembering what they had to do for Krav Maga.

"Well you're both rather skinny, and you could get into shape. So, I would suggest eating better and start exercising, you don't want to hurt yourself or anyone else in your lessons," she told them.

_'Same thing Evan told us to do.'_

"Oh, and I would suggest practicing on the days you do not have lessons. Do you still want lessons then?" Ms. Watt asked.

"Yes, we do," Rose answered immediately.

"Well then I just need Sirius to sign some paperwork and then we will get you fit with uniforms for the lessons," she replied with enthusiasm as she moved over to the front desk to get the necessary paperwork.

After Sirius had finished with all the paperwork Ms. Watt went into the back for a moment before returning with four sets of uniforms. "Try these on and tell me which of the two different sizes fit best. You can change in the back. The Boys changing room is on the right and the Girls is on the left."

Harry and Rose quickly went into their respective changing rooms to try on the uniforms. The smaller of the two ended up fitting both of them quite well, while the larger one would not fit them for another year or so at the rate they were growing. They came out of the changing room each carrying two sets of uniforms.

"The smaller one fits us better," Harry informed Ms. Watt.

"Well why don't you take both and you can grow into the larger one."

"Thanks!" Rose exclaimed happily.

"Lessons will be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. You will be in a class with students within your age by three years, so no one older than twelve, but no one will be younger than eight," Ms. Watt told them. "You will change into your uniform before class, so arrive prior to twelve," she added.

"Well then we will see you on Tuesday," Sirius said as they left.

Sirius led Harry and Rose back through London to the Leaky Cauldron, so they could Floo back to Sirius' house.

"Now when you Floo it's 'Number 12 Grimmauld Place', remember to say it clearly," he reminded them.

When Harry and Rose arrived at Grimmauld Place, after the harrowing Floo trip, the first thing they noticed was that it seemed to be a dark and unforgiving house. The entrance hall, in which they Flooed into, was a large room with dark, peeling wallpaper, and threadbare carpet. The gas lamps that lit the room were shaped like serpents and the door knobs on all the doors were silver snakes.

_'I don't think we went to the right house Harry, this can't be were Sirius lives.'_

_'I dunno we said the name correctly; let's wait for him to come.'_

A moment later Sirius came out of the fireplace. They turned to look at him with confusion evident in their eyes.

"Sorry about the place. I haven't had a chance to remodel it since I've been after Peter for the last decade. My parents were Dark, so I normally did not live here. They threw me out when I was sixteen because I would not support their ideals," he explained.

"Well then we've got some work to do," Rose said with a grin.

"What do you mean, we?" Sirius asked.

"You really expect us to let our godfather live in a place like this?" Rose said; it was more of a statement than a question. She was pointing to dark and evil looking objects around the room.

"Well I suppose not," Sirius replied.

"You definitely need new wallpaper. This place needs to be brightened up quite a bit," Rose said, as she gestured to the peeling wallpaper.

"We'll worry about how the house looks after you two get settled into a normal training schedule," Sirius told them. He smiled at the thought of cleaning up the house with the two of them.

They followed Sirius out of the entrance hall and into the hallway. In the hallway there were heads of odd looking creatures hanging on the walls.

"What are those?" Rose said disgustedly.

"Oh, those are my dear families old house elves," Sirius drawled.

"House elves?" Harry asked.

"They're creatures that are enslaved to wizarding families and do most of the house work and such," Sirius explained. "I have one, but he's useless now. Old and just goes on about me betraying my family by being thrown out, so just ignore him if you see him. His name is Kreacher, but he doesn't really listen to anyone, I have to yell at him to get him to do anything," Sirius added.

"Where did you go?" Rose asked.

"Your father's house," Sirius said, with a grin. "They were like my other family, but much better than my real one."

"Let's go get you guys settled in," Sirius said, while leaving the room. Harry and Rose followed as he showed them each of their rooms.

_'I'd rather stay in the same room as you Harry. I'm not sure I really want to sleep by myself.'_

_'Me too,'_ Harry agreed. They didn't think they could take being separated after always sharing _everything_ together.

"Uhm…Sirius do you mind if we share a room? We're more comfortable together, we've never really been apart," Rose said.

"Oh! If you want to, of course that's fine with me," Sirius said. They picked the larger of the two rooms before depositing their things in it.

"I'll warn you now though, remember that moth eaten curtain in the entrance hall?" Sirius asked. They nodded in affirmation. "Well, well behind the curtain is the portrait of my late mother, and she can get rather rude and quite noisy, so be quiet in the entrance hall unless you want her to wake up the living dead by screaming at anything that moves past her," Sirius explained.

"We can do whatever you two want tonight. You will meet Remus and Moody tomorrow morning. They will go over what you already know and what you will be learning. Remus is out tonight otherwise you would already meet him," Sirius told them.

"Alright," Rose replied.

"Now, let's go get some dinner," Sirius said, as he clapped his hands together. Harry and Rose thought they heard him mutter something about shopping always making him hungry. They had a large dinner of Spaghetti, and surprisingly it was quite good, considering Sirius was the one cooking.

"I'll just go have a word with Dumbledore. You two can read or something in the living room," Sirius said, after they had cleaned up from dinner. Sirius threw some Floo Powder into the fire before sticking his head in and exchanging a few quick words.

"I'll be back in a bit. I'm going to go over and talk to him," Sirius said, he went over to the book shelf and pulled out two books.

"I want you two to start reading this book while I'm gone. It will help you understand magic better," Sirius said as he handed them the books. They were the exact same book titled _Magical Theory_. Sirius went back to the fireplace and tossed some more Floo Powder in before stepping into it and disappearing. Harry and Rose settled onto the couch next to each other and started reading the book Sirius had given them.

Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his desk thinking about two students who were due to start Hogwarts in two years; Harry and Rose Potter. He had been waiting for them to start schooling for quite some time now. A little less than a week ago he had received a surprise visit from Sirius Black. Sirius had just turned Pettigrew in to the ministry. Pettigrew was currently residing in a maximum security cell in Azkaban, but what Sirius had mainly come for had been no surprise to Albus. Sirius had wanted to get to know his godchildren before they were to start at Hogwarts. He at first had denied Sirius. He did not want Harry and Rose to find out about everything Sirius would most likely tell them. In the end however, Albus had to relent and let Sirius have Harry and Rose stay with him for next two years, if they so wished to. However, Albus had been adamant on Harry and Rose staying with the Dursleys for at least part of the summer after their first year.

He deeply believed in blood magic and the strength of love. He had not checked up on Harry and Rose because he was confident that his wards would keep them out of the danger. He believed he had made the right decision in placing them with the Dursleys. Who would not take care of their own kin anyways? So, what came next was quite surprising for Albus. He had been deep in thought and did not notice the head in his fireplace until the head spoke to Albus.

"Dumbledore, do you have time to speak with me privately?" Sirius asked, urgently. His face was a mask of emotions from anger and pain to sadness and regret.

"What? Oh yes, I have some spare time at the moment," Albus said, shaking himself out of his thoughts. He was momentarily surprised that Sirius had stopped by. He did not think he would be seeing him again, at least for a while.

"I will be right over then Dumbledore," Sirius said. With that his head disappeared and a moment later Sirius was wiping the soot off his robes.

"Please have a seat Sirius," Albus said motioning to a chair in front of his desk.

"Well what can I do for you?" Albus asked after Sirius had sat down. Albus noticed that the sadness and grief had left his eyes, now only anger was there. He knew that something was wrong, but what?

"What can you do for me?" Sirius asked quietly. "It's more like what you _didn't_ do for me, or them for that matter," Sirius added in a cold, quiet tone.

"I don't understand what you're talking about Sirius," Albus said confusedly. He assumed Sirius was talking about Harry and Rose, but he was not positive.

"Don't play dumb with me Dumbledore; you know exactly what you didn't do," Sirius said a bit louder this time. He stood up and started pacing in front of Albus' desk.

"I assure you I do not know what you're talking about right now, and please we went over this last time, call me Albus," Albus said. He was quite sure he knew that Sirius was talking about Harry and Rose, but not for what reason.

"Like bloody hell you don't know! You promised me!" Sirius said much louder this time.

"Sirius, would you kindly explain what I promised you?" Albus asked. He knew he was forgetting something, but he could not seem to place what it was that he was forgetting.

"YOU BLOODY PROMISED ME YOU WOULD KEEP HARRY AND ROSE SAFE AND HAPPY!" Sirius shouted at Albus. Some of the devices in Albus' office began to rattle as Sirius' temper quickly rose.

"Sirius I must ask you to please calm down," Albus said, he was confused as to what he had promised before it hit him. He had promised Sirius the night that Lily and James had died that he would make sure Harry and Rose were safe and happy.

"I WILL NOT FUCKING CALM DOWN!" Sirius shouted. His rage was almost at its bursting point. He knew that if he did not calm down things would start to spiral out of control, and he would be liable to hex to old man. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THOSE TWO HAVE BEEN THORUGH AT THE HANDS OF THOSE…THOSE MONSTERS!" Sirius shouted.

"I assured you that they are being well taken care of," Albus said, in truth he did not know, but he assumed they were; however, now he was having second thoughts.

"MY ASS YOU KNOW! THEY HAVE BEEN ABUSED BOTH PHYSICALLY AND VERBALLY! HARRY HAS A BLACK EYE FROM THAT PIECE OF WORK, VERNON," Sirius spat out Vernon's name as if it was poison. "THAT'S PROBABLY NOT ALL OF THE BRUISES AND INJURIES HE HAS! THEY WERE UNDERFED, GIVEN CLOTHES FOUR TIMES THEIR SIZE!" Sirius shouted. Tears were filling his eyes as he yelled at Albus.

"They lived in a bloody cupboard for three years!" he choked. Tears were falling freely down his face now as he collapsed back into the chair. He had been pacing in front of the desk for his whole rant.

Albus sat there stunned at what he was hearing. 'It couldn't possibly be true could it?' he thought.

"You let this happen! It's all your bloody fault! I trusted you to make sure they were safe and happy!" Sirius shouted. His eyes were still moist, but no more tears were falling. The blaze of anger had returned to his eyes. "I trusted your judgment!" Sirius finished.

"You must be wrong Sirius, I would have known if they had any problems," Albus said, he didn't want to believe that any of what Sirius had said could be true.

"Like bloody hell I'm wrong! You should just be thankful they're great kids. I don't know how they can be so strong in a place like that," Sirius said. "I will not allow them to return there after their first year," he said forcefully.

"You have no say in the matter Sirius, they must return there. I will check up on what you have told me, but they must return," Albus said adamantly.

"You think long and hard about what I said Albus because this is not over," Sirius said coldly, as he got up from the chair and Flooed back to Grimmauld Place.

Sirius came out of the fireplace in the entrance hall of Grimmauld Place in a fury. He could not believe Albus Dumbledore. The man believed too much in blood magic and the good of people. Right now however, he needed to get back to his god kids, but first he had to calm himself. It would not do well for Harry and Rose to see him in such a rage.

After he had calmed himself down, which took about five minutes, he headed into the living room to find Harry and Rose curled up next to each other reading a book. They appeared to both be reading it at the same time. He really need to talk to them about the Dursleys, he hoped they would not mind the subject too much.

He sat down across from them before clearing his throat. They looked up and set the book down before Rose asked, "How'd it go?"

"Well, I sure gave him a piece of my mind, and quite a bit to think about," Sirius said, with a mischievous grin. "I wanted to ask you two about the Dursleys though," he added.

"What about them?" Harry asked uncomfortably.

Sirius noticing his discomfort quickly said, "If you don't want to talk about them you don't have to."

"No, it's fine we might as well do it sooner rather than later," Rose replied quietly

"Well, I just mainly wanted to know, do they abuse either of you often?" Sirius asked.

_'I suppose we should tell him,'_ Rose sighed.

"Yes," Harry said quietly after a few moments of thought. "Though it's been better lately because the last time Uncle Vernon hit me Rose knocked him out," he added, with a grin.

"You knocked out your Uncle?" Sirius asked, with a look of sheer amusement.

"Yes, well he hit Harry. I couldn't let him get away with it now could I?" Rose asked.

"How'd you knock him out? He's easily ten times your size," Sirius said looking intently at Rose.

"I dunno, I just kind of stuck out my hand and he was launched back a good twenty feet," Rose said with pride.

"Wow, that's really something then," Sirius said. "I'm sorry to dredge up bad memories, but I just wanted to know. I'm trying to make Dumbledore see reason and let you two stay with me whenever you're not at Hogwarts, but if he won't listen then I'm going to put the fear of Merlin in those Dursleys," he continued.

"So, what would you two like to do for the rest of the night? We can do anything you want," Sirius asked.

_'This is going to be the best two years ever, Rose.'_

_'Definitely, but right now I want to hear about our parents.'_

_'I'd like that too.'_

"Do you think you can tell us stories about our parents?" Rose asked timidly.

"Of course I can! I would love to," Sirius said.

"Well, let me tell you about how I met your father and Remus," Sirius started off. Harry and Rose listened to Sirius tell them stories about their parents all night. From their fathers pranks at Hogwarts to their mother hexing James for pulling pranks on the first years. They heard about everything the Marauders got up to during their day. Harry and Rose did not get to bed until eleven that night when Sirius realized the time and told them they needed to get a good nights rest for tomorrow especially after such a busy day.

_'I can't believe so much happened in one day Harry.'_

_'I know I just hope I don't wake up tomorrow and it was all a dream.'_

_'Me neither.'_

_'Goodnight Rose.'_

_'Goodnight Harry.'_

"Wake up, you've got a long day ahead of you," Sirius said, waking both Harry and Rose.

"Five more minutes," Harry grumbled as he rolled over back to sleep.

"Mmm," was all that came from Rose.

"Come on guys get up," Sirius said a bit louder this time.

"Go away," Harry grumbled as he tried to fall back to sleep.

"Well you asked for it," Sirius said with a shrug. He pulled out his wand, and with a flick a large pail of water was over Harry and Rose. A moment later the pail was turned upside down and the water dropped unceremoniously on to their heads. Harry and Rose shot out of bed with teeth chattering amid Sirius' laughter.

"What was that for?" Harry shouted, he did not appreciate being bathed in cold water.

"You wouldn't get out of bed," Sirius said as if it was completely justified.

"You didn't have to soak us," Rose replied while glaring at Sirius. She was shivering from the cold water and tried to pull the blankets closer, but that just ended up making her colder.

"But it was hilarious. You should have seen your faces," Sirius said as he flicked his wand again, drying Harry and Rose.

"Git," Harry muttered.

"Now change so we can go running," Sirius said as he walked out of the room.

_'RUNNING? It's only seven in the morning,'_ Harry cried mentally.

Harry and Rose quickly changed into their jogging clothes before heading downstairs to find Sirius.

"Why do we have to run so early?" Harry growled.

"Because the morning air is refreshing. Now let's go," Sirius said as he held open the front door.

Sirius led them for a run around the neighborhood; Harry and Rose quickly found out that no matter how much they could run while playing Football they could not keep up with Sirius. They were soon struggling to keep jogging at a decent pace. After what seemed like ages, but was really only half an hour they ended up back at Grimmauld place, huffing and puffing as they trudged in, were Sirius had them start working out before they could shower and eat.

By the time they were done with their sit ups, push ups, pull ups, triceps dips, and one legged squats they were physically exhausted as they dragged themselves upstairs to shower and change out of their sweaty clothes. Sirius made breakfast while they were busy showering.

_'I don't know how we're going to live through this,'_ Rose grumbled as she massaged her sore legs, while letting the hot water run down her body. It was relaxing to say the least and relived a little of the tension in her sore muscles. Harry was busy changing after having just finished showering in the other bathroom.

_'At least we've got food. Besides it will be fun once we get into shape. Right?'_

_'If I remember correctly you were the one complaining this morning.'_

_'Oh shut up, it was seven in the morning!'_

Once Rose had finished showering and changing, they headed back downstairs to kitchen where the smell of food was wafting its way up the stairs. Harry and Rose plopped themselves down around the table waiting for Sirius to bring out the food. As Sirius levitated the food out of the kitchen there was a knock at the door.

"That's probably Remus," Sirius said as he set the food down. They quickly started piling their plates high with eggs, hashers, sausage and toast as Sirius went to go meet whoever was outside the house. They heard the front door open and some talking, but they could not discern what was being said; however, a moment later Sirius walked back in followed by another man.

The man that walked in was dressed in shabby clothes. There were patches all over his robes, some noticeable, some not so much. He had a haggard look about his face that told of hard life. He had light brown hair and his eyes, while not full of life, did not show as much exhaustion as his facial features did. However, he had a slight smile on his face as he looked around the room before settling his eyes on Harry and Rose.

"Harry, Rose, I'd like you to meet Remus. He is one of my best friends and was one of your fathers too. Remus this is Harry and Rose," Sirius said jovially. He had his hand on Remus' shoulder while Remus looked from Harry to Rose with a look of shock and eagerness.

"Merlin they look just like James and Lily, except Harry's eyes. He has Lily's eyes," Remus said more to himself than anyone else.

For Remus' benefit Sirius said, "More than you know it."

"Hello sir," Harry said a moment later.

"Hello Harry, please call me Remus. Sir makes me sound old," Remus grinned.

"So, how are you Harry, Rose?" Remus asked looking at each of them.

"Much better now that we're with Sirius. Though I think he's trying to kill us with the work out this morning," Rose replied.

"Ahh, I see he's got you on the old routine," Remus replied with a slight smile. Something Rose said clicked in his brain as odd so he decided to go out on a whim and asked her, "What do you mean better now?"

Harry and Rose both looked at Sirius with a nervous look on their faces. Sirius got the messaged and said, "I'll explain about it later."

"Alright."

"Now, how about we get back to the food," Sirius said, changing the subject as he piled food onto his plate and dug in. Harry and Rose went back to eating and Remus started to grab food too. Conversation about their training ensued during the course of the meal. Sirius told Remus about Harry and Rose doing magic without a wand, which was quite the shocker to Remus, but he did not say anything about it except that they would discuss it once one other person arrived.

_'I wonder who the other person is,'_ Harry wondered.

Instead of answering, Rose voiced the question to Sirius and Remus who were bringing over their dishes too, "Who's going to be the other person you said was going to help us with our training?"

"Now if I told you that would ruin the surprise, though you wouldn't know him in the first place, but I'll just let you find out," Sirius smirked.

"He should be here shortly. He had to take care of a few things first," Remus offered.

After eating until they were all full, along with some light conversation, Sirius stood up to banish the dishes to the sink.

A loud noise came from seemingly everywhere, making Rose scream and Harry fall from his chair.

"Ah, I'm guessing that's him," Sirius said. Remus looked to him, and a knowing look came across his face.

Sirius walked out of the kitchen, and returned a few minutes later. A dull clunk echoed out from behind him. A man came into view, and they assumed this was who would be training them.

His face looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening. One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and

a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye--and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all they could see was whiteness.

Taking one look at him, Harry stepped back a few paces, with Rose hiding behind him.

"Oh come on little Miss Potter, my bark is much worse than my bite," the man said, smiling at Rose.

"Oh yeah, it really is," Sirius said. "Except for that time he killed twenty-seven Death Eaters using only a Q-Tip, a wad of chewing gum, and three Stunning spells."

"I SAID TO NEVER MENTION THAT AGAIN!" the man roared at Sirius.

"Sorry, damn…" Sirius said, stepping away from the man.

"Now that the fun is over," Remus said, "I would like the two of you to meet Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. He is an ex-auror, and probably the toughest man on the continent."

"H-h-hi," Rose said after a few moments, still not actually looking at the man.

"Hello," Harry said as he stepped forward. He was acting more confident than he truly felt.

"Good lad," Moody said, "nice to see you're a brave one. You're going to need that soon."

"Erm… okay I guess," Harry said.

"Do the two of you have your wands yet?" Moody asked, looking from the kids to Sirius and Remus.

"Actually," Sirius cut in, finally showing his face to Moody again, "we aren't going to be getting wands."

"Then how in the bloody hell do you expect me to teach these kids anything?" Moody roared, and Sirius almost went back to hiding.

"Well you see, they have seemed to develop a beginning level of skill with wandless magic"

"Oh?"

"Yes, I was hoping you could help them expand their wandless base. Harry, Rose, do you think you can show him how you…"

A/N: Hope you liked the Chapter. Chapter 6 should be out much quicker than this one. Once again sorry for the wait. Also, if you liked this story, then I direct you to The Epoch of the War, my other story. Yahoo group is in my profile. Thanks for the reviews!


	6. Ginevra Molly Weasley

Author's Notes:

A/N: Sorry about the wait, at least it wasn't as long as last time. I (PotterBoy90) have gotten into the TV show Lost recently... It took up quite a bit of time. I'm caught up with Lost now, so that means more time for fanfics!

Again, sorry, and enjoy the chapter, I know you have been waiting for it.

It is shorter than our usual chapters, but necessary, nonetheless!!

Enjoy!

PotterBoy90 and Zero(tactics)

Chapter Six: Ginevra Molly Weasley

On the outskirts of a little town called Ottery St. Catchpole was a strange house. It looked like something a four year old would build out of their toy blocks. There were pieces stacked on pieces, and one would wonder how it stayed together, unless one was familiar with magic. This house was called the Burrow, and was the home of a rather large family of redheads.

The family was the Weasleys. They were one of the oldest pureblood families left in the Wizarding World. They all also happened to be in the Gryffindor house at Hogwarts. They were a happy and loving family of nine.

Molly and Arthur, the couple who owned the house, had been married since shortly after they had left Hogwarts.

Bill, their eldest son had already graduated Hogwarts; he had gone on to become a curse-breaker and currently resided in Egypt. Charlie, the second oldest, had also graduated. He lived in Romania, working with dragons. Between Bill and Charlie moving away and taking up posts in dangerous occupations, Molly couldn't help wondering what her other five children would end up doing as a career.

Percy was the oldest who still lived at home; he would be starting his fifth year at Hogwarts as a Prefect. He was your typical model student. Top marks in his year, always followed the rules, and always polite, however, he was quite boring. He looked like the rest of the brothers, tall and thin. However, unlike the rest of the family, he wore glasses. He was the black sheep of the family. While most of the brothers, and Ginny, loved Quidditch and having fun, Percy was the studious one, who tended to stick to the rules and keep to himself.

After Percy were the twins, Fred and George. They were going into their third year, and were the family pranksters. It was common practice to triple check anything the twins gave you. They were a bit shorter and stockier than most of their brothers. They were identical, down to the last freckle. Even their hairstyles were the same; they both wore it semi-short and straight forward. It was a rare occasion when you saw one without the other.

Ron, who was the second youngest and tended to be a bit more…temperamental, happened to be an excellent chess player and a Quidditch fanatic. He would be starting his first year at Hogwarts, and was rather nervous about it. Ron was tall and lanky with red hair that was longer than the twins'. He loved Quidditch and everything about it, and his favorite team was the Chudley Cannons. Ron was quite different from his other brothers. He could be laid back and fun loving, but if you pushed just the right buttons, he would often explode and let his anger loose.

Last, but certainly not least was Ginevra, normally called Ginny, she was the youngest of the Weasley clan, and the only girl born into the Weasley family in seven generations. She would also be starting her first year even though Ron was almost a whole year older than she was. The only reason she and Ron would be starting together was that the cut off date for first years is September 1st. Ron was born September 3, 1979 while Ginny's was August 11, 1980 thus allowing her to attend Hogwarts with Ron.

She was a mix of the whole family. She was a bit on the short side, only about four foot eleven at the moment. She wasn't skinny and lanky like everyone else though; nor was she stocky like Fred and George. She had a slim and slender body, and could move with the grace of a dancer when she wanted to. Where Ron would bump into something, she could easily glide around it. She had shimmering red hair, which went to about her mid back. If you were to look at it in the light, you would see many shades of red, and what would seem to be highlights of gold. She had the emotions of Ron, the mischievous streak of Fred and George, and a bit of Percy's intellectual drive. But most of all she had a sense of compassion and caring for others. She seemed to have a keen sense of what someone was feeling, and could usually cheer them right up. Ginny was the perfect mix.

"Ginny! Is all of your packing done yet? School starts tomorrow!" A voice yelled from somewhere down the stairs.

"No mum, you already know that!" Ginny said, having been interrupted from her daydreaming. "You've been asking me that every five minutes!"

Ginny began to tune her mother out again, who was now yelling at Ron to pack his things. You see, Ginny's mind had been a bit preoccupied, and by a bit, I mean not a minute went by that her mind wasn't focused on the same thought. She would be starting Hogwarts tomorrow and she would be in the same year as The-Twins-Who-Lived. Ginny had grown up, along with Ron and their twin brothers, with stories about the Potter twins who had miraculously lived through a killing curse, and defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. To say she liked the stories, and the twin Potters, would be an understatement. Ron was just about the same way. Just about everyone knew Ginny had a secret crush, which she wasn't sure how secret it was anymore, on the famous Harry Potter, and likewise with Ron having a crush on Rose Potter.

Ginny rolled off her bed, and began digging through a pile of clothes to find her swimming suit. After a quick change, and throwing a short summer dress over it, she bounced down the stairs.

"Mum, I'm going to go down to the pond," Ginny said as she ran out the door.

"That's fine dear, just don't be out too long," Molly shouted after her retreating daughter's back. "Don't forget you still have to pack!"

Ginny reached the pond at the edge of the Weasley's property and flung her dress over her head and onto the grass. She ran towards the border of the pond and jumped as far as she could, and landed in the water with a splash!

She let her mind be free of everything, and let herself float through the water. She always felt at peace when she was swimming and was kind of sad about having to go off to Hogwarts, where she wouldn't have access to the pond. Even though there was a lake at Hogwarts it wouldn't be the same. Her brothers had told her how cold it was when she asked if she would be able to swim there. She didn't normally mind the cold, but they had told her it was often times freezing. Either way, summer would be over and the cold weather would be on its way. Maybe she would be able to go swimming before it got cold.

Ginny did not hear the approaching footsteps, nor did she hear anyone taking off their shirt, she did hear, however, a large splash. As soon as the person hit the water she knew that Ron had joined her in the pool, only he ever made such a splash.

"Hey Ron," Ginny said.

"Hi Ginny," Ron said as he swam.

"I can't wait to start Hogwarts! How 'bout you?"

"Duh I can't wait! You saw how sad I was last year because I had to wait ANOTHER year to start! I mean, come on just because my birthday is in September doesn't mean I should have to wait a WHOLE year. I would have been 11 a couple weeks into school! Now I'll be older than everyone… the only twelve year old first year…"

"Oh come on Ron, I'm sure there will be someone else your age in our year. Besides, now we get to start school together!" Ginny said excitedly.

"Yeah… and you know what else? We're going to be going to school with The-Twins-Who-Lived!

"I know! I can just imagine them already. They are both going to be top of the class, fun, cute…"

After the sorting, Ginny looked over to her brothers.

"Why weren't either of _them_ sorted? Are they coming out soon to be sorted after us?" Ginny asked the redheads around her.

"Didn't you hear, Ginny?" Percy asked in such a tone that everyone should have known whatever the news was. "Harry and Rose Potter aren't coming to Hogwarts this year."

Percy passed Ginny a copy of the Evening Prophet and her jaw dropped as she read the article on the front page.

**Trouble at Hogwarts: Potter Twins Refuse to Attend and are Rumored to have left for America!**

_By: Jacqueline Cadence_

_That's right people, the famous Twins-Who-Lived have left the country! A few hours before the infamous sorting ceremony was to begin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore left his office a very angry man. Headmaster Dumbledore was reported to have angrily strode from his office to the office of Minerva McGonagall, nearly blasting her door off upon entering._

_Minerva, after recovering from the shock of hearing her door forcefully being thrown open, was ordered to remove two names from her master list of students entering Hogwarts today, one Harry Potter, and one Rose Potter._

_According to a reliable source, Dumbledore was going out to meet with Sirius Black, who had taken in Harry and Rose about two years ago. After meeting with Black, it was apparent that he had somehow brainwashed our golden children into defying the Headmaster of Hogwarts. After a tense argument, the twins, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin (who was in previous years speculated to be in a relationship with Black, and also a highly dangerous werewolf), were said to have fled the country by unauthorized portkey._

_A close friend of Sirius Black had the following quote for everyone worried about the children who were brainwashed and taken from the wizarding community:_

_"You shouldn't be worried at all; I know exactly where they went. All you have to do is get over to America, Illinois precisely. All Sirius ever talked about was how he couldn't wait to go, but he had to wait until just the right moment," said one Severus Snape, who happens to be the Potions Master at Hogwarts. "Best to hurry and get those kids back, we wouldn't want them to fall to far behind on their homework."_

_I'll keep everyone updated with any further developments in this heartbreaking story._


End file.
